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SPAKE  MINUTE  SERIES. 


LIVING  TRUTHS 


FROM  THE  WRITINGS  OF  CHARLES  KINGSLEY 


SELECTED  BY 

E.  E.  BROWN 


A 


INTRODUCTION  BY 

W.  D.  HOWELLS 


BOSTON 

D LOTHROP  COMPANY 


. 35233 

Z. 

■ L7 

Copyright,  1882. 

D.  Lothrop  & Company, 


j 3 _ 77/ 


INTRODUCTION. 


IT  is  the  fate  of  many  thinkers  to  make  their  thoughts  so  common 
to  all  the  world  that  what  they  have  to  say  seems  nothing  new  to 
the  generations  succeeding  their  own.  None  but  their  contempo- 
raries can  know  them  to  have  been  prophets,  with  fresh  truth  to  re- 
veal. We  to  whom  Hypatia,  and  Yeast,  and  Alton  Locke  were  like 
messages  from  on  high,  must  not  expect  that  newer  men  will  open 
Kingsley’s  books  with  the  same  sense  of  standing  face  to  face  with 
a man  of  God.  What  he  said  has  been  said  so  often  since  by  him- 
self, as  well  as  by  others,  that  it  no  longer  has  the  consecration  that 
it  once  had. 

Yet  it  remains  the  truth,  and,  what  is  better,  he  remains  true  in 
it : a most  earnest,  ardent,  devout  and  striving  soul,  full  of  good- 
will to  men,  and  of  reverent  love  to  God.  He  had  his  limitations 
on  every  side,  intellectual,  spiritual  and  moral;  and  he  made  some 
lamentable  mistakes,  both  in  thinking  and  doing ; but  at  the  end 
and  to  the  end  he  continued  a man  of  just  aspirations  and  generous 
hopes  for  mankind,  and  of  a sturdy  belief  no  less  in  earth  than  in 
heaven.  He  came  into  the  world  at  a time  when  Christianity 
needed  to  be  muscularized  ; he  preached  a red-blooded  goodness ; 
and  it  is  not  his  blame  if  the  muscular  Christianity  which  he  in- 
vented became  a little  brutal ; that  is  the  danger  of  robust  strength, 
as  it  is  also  the  danger  of  weakness.  From  the  authorship  of 
Alloa  Locke  to  the  chanjpio  iship  of  Governor  Eyre  is  a long  de- 
scent ; but  those  who  have  followed  Kingsley  all  the  way  to  that 


4 


Introduction . 


disastrous  error,  cannot  believe  that  at  any  moment  he  ceased  to 
love  the  truth,  though  he  ceased  to  see  it. 

His  ideal  was  duty,  and  he  never  failed  to  preach  it  and  to  strive 
for  it.  His  life  sometimes  seems  a long  unrest,  an  anguish  for 
duty’s  sake ; yet  it  was  righteousness  as  far  as  possible  from  ascet- 
icism which  he  inculcated.  Once  his  sympathy  with  helplessness 
and  suffering  seemed  to  fail  him ; but  for  the  rest  his  career  was 
one  of  constant  endeavor  for  humanity.  He  had  a tender  and 
loving  heart,  as  those  may  see  who  read  the  touching  and  beauti- 
ful record  of  his  life  which  his  wife  has  left ; and  if  we  could  some- 
times wish  him  a greater  willingness  to  see  the  beauty  and  wisdom 
of  repose,  we  cannot  deny  our  admiration  to  his  valiant  and  phi- 
lanthropic activity. 

This  little  book  seems  to  me  singularly  full  in  its  representation 
of  the  didactic  side  of  his  mind.  It  is  fervent  in  appeal  at  every 
page,  strong  in  faith,  and  luminous  and  penetrating  in  exhortation. 
One  cannot  read  it  without  feeling  the  brotherhood  of  a soul  that 
has  suffered  and  has  learned  through  suffering  that  there  is  but  one 
great  thing  for  men  to  do  in  this  world,  and  that  is  to  do  right. 

W.  D.  Howells. 


CHARLES  KINGSLEY. 


CHARLES  KINGSLEY  was  born  at  Holne,  in 
Devonshire  county,  England,  on  the  12th  of  June, 
1819.  His  father,  at  that  time  vicar  of  Holne,  was  a 
man  of  unusual  culture,  and  was  somewhat  of  an  artist 
as  well  as  a fine  linguist  and  keen  sportsman.  His 
mother,  a woman  of  remarkable  ability,  was  a daughter 
of  Nathan  Lucas,  of  Farley  Hall,  Barbadoes. 

“ Our  talent,  such  as  it  is,”  writes  Charles  Kingsley 
to  Mr.  Galton,  “is  altogether  hereditary.  My  father  was 
a magnificent  man  in  body  and  mind,  and  was  said  to 
possess  every  talent  except  that  of  using  his  talents. 
My  mother,  on  the  contrary,  had  a quite  extraordinary 
practical  and  administrative  power,  and  she  combined 
with  it  my  father’s  passion  for  knowledge.” 

While  inheriting  from  his  father’s  side  his  love  of  art 
and  his  sporting  tastes,  Charles  strongly  resembled  his 
mother  in  his  force  and  originality  of  character,  as  well 
as  in  the  romance  of  his  nature.  He  was  a delicate  but 
precocious  child,  and  began  to  write  both  poems  and 
sermons  at  the  mature  age  of  four  years  ! His  consci- 
entiousness was  a marked  trait  of  character  even  at  this 
early  age,  and  an  old  nurse  of  the  family  writes  of 
him  as  follows : “ I have  never  forgotten  one  day  when 
he  and  his  little  brothers  were  playing  together,  and 
had  a difference*  which  seldom  happened.  His  mother, 
coming  into  the  room,  took  the  brothers’  part,  which  he 


6 


Charles  Kingsley. 


resented,  and  he  said  he  wished  she  was  not  his 
mother.  His  grief  afterwards  was  great,  and  he  came 
crying  bitterly  to  the  kitchen  door  to  ask  me  to  take 
him  up  to  his  room.  The  housemaid  inquired  what  was 
the  matter,  and  said  his  mamma  would  be  sure  to  for- 
give him.  ‘ She  has  forgiven  me,’  he  exclaimed,  ‘but  don’t 
cant , Elizabeth  — I saw  you  blush.  It  isn’t  mamma’s 
forgiveness  I want  now,  but  God’s/ 

When  Charles  was  about  five  years  old  his  father  was 
offered  the  living  of  Barnack,  which  he  held  for  six 
years.  The  Fen  scenery  with  its  wide  sweep  of  horizon 
and  gorgeous  sunsets  was  associated  in  the  boy’s  mind 
with  his  earliest  sporting  recollections,  and  it  was  here 
doubtless  that  the  first  seeds  were  sown  of  the  story  of 
Hereward  the  Wake . In  1830  the  family  removed  to 
Clovelly,  on  the  rocky  Devonshire  coast.  Here  Charles 
and  his  brothers  had  their  boat  and  their  ponies,  and 
began  with  an  enthusiasm  shared  by  their  parents  the 
practical  study  of  natural  history.  The  little  parish  at 
Clovelly  was  largely  composed  of  simple  fisher  folk,  and 
“ When  the  herring  fleet  put  to  sea,  whatever  the  weather 
might  be,  the  Rector,  accompanied  by  his  wife  and  boys, 
would  start  off  for  the  quay  to  give  a short  parting 
service,  at  which  ‘ men  who  worked  ’ and  * women 
who  wept  * would  join  in  singing  out  of  the  old  Prayer 
Book  version  the  one  hundred  and  twenty-first  Psalm  as 
only  those  can  who  have  death  and  danger  staring  them 
in  the  face.”  The  song  of  The  Three  Fishers  was  a 
tragedy  of  real  life  — not  a mere  poetibal  fancy.  “Now 
that  you  have  seen  Clovelly,”  said  Charles  Kingsley  in 
after  years  to  his  wife,  “you  know  what  was  the  in- 
spiration of  my  life  before  I met  you.”  After  studying 
at  home  with  a private  tutor,  the  Kingsley  boys  were 
sent  to  Clifton  to  a preparatory  school  under  the  Rev. 
John  Knight,  who  speaks  of  Charles  as  “ an  affectionate 
boy,  gentle,  and  fond  of  quiet ; capable  of  making  re- 


Charles  Kingsley , 


7 


markable  translations  of  Latin  verse  into  English,  and  a 
passionate  lover  of  natural  history.” 

Kingsley  always  regretted  his  parents’  decision  not  to 
send  him  to  a public  school.  Nothing  but  that,  he 
thought,  would  have  conquered  his  constitutional  shyness 
which  was,  of  course,  greatly  increased  by  a certain  hes- 
itation in  his  speech.  This  hesitation  was  throughout 
life  a constant  thorn  in  the  flesh  to  him,  and  it  is  said 
that  he  “seldom  entered  a room,  or  spoke  in  private  or 
public  without  a feeling,  at  moments  amounting  to  terror, 
when  he  could  have  wished  the  earth  would  open  and 
swallow  him  up  there  and  then.” 

In  1836  the  free,  happy  life  of  Clovelly  was  exchanged, 
greatly  to  the  grief  of  the  Kingsley  boys,  for  London 
scenes,  and  the  rectory  of  St.  Luke’s,  Chelsea.  For  the 
next  two  years  Charles  was  hard  at  work  at  King’s 
College,  “walking  up  there  every  day  from  Chelsea, 
reading  all  the  way,  and  walking  home  late  to  study  all 
the  evening.” 

In  the  autumn  of  1838  he  left  King’s  College  for 
Magdalene  College,  Cambridge,  where  he  soon  gained  a 
scholarship.  The  following  summer  his  father,  needing  a 
change  of  air,  took  charge  of  the  parish  of  Checkenden 
for  a few  months.  It  was  here  that  the  young  student 
met  for  the  first  time  Miss  Fanny  Grenfell,  his  future 
wife;  and  although  for  the  next  four  years  and  a half 
they  seldom  saw  one  another,  and  corresponded  only  at 
long  intervals,  a new  and  refining  impulse  was  henceforth 
given  to  all  of  Kingsley’s  hopes  and  dreams. 

At  the  time  he  met  Miss  Grenfell  he  was  passing  through 
a severe  ordeal  of  doubt  and  despondency. 

“ I strive  daily  and  hourly  to  be  calm,”  he  writes  from 
Cambridge.  “ Every  few  minutes  I stop  myself  forcibly,  and 
recall  my  mind  to  a sense  of  where  I am — where  I am 
going  — and  whither  I ought  to  be  tending.  This  is  most 
painful  discipline,  but  wholesome,  and  much  as  I dread  to 


8 


Charles  Kingsley . 


look  inward,  I force  myself  to  it  continually.”  From  Sully, 
June  12th,  1841,  he  writes: 

“ My  birthnight.  I have  been  for  the  last  hour  on  the 
sea-shore,  not  dreaming,  but  thinking  deeply  and  strongly, 
and  forming  determinations  which  are  to  affect  my  destiny 
through  time  and  through  eternity.  Before  the  sleeping 
earth  and  the  sleepless  sea  and  stars  I have  devoted  my- 
self to  God  ; a vow  never  (if  he  gives  me  the  faith  I pray 
for)  to  be  recalled.” 

It  was  during  the  spring  of  this  year  that  he  decided  to 
study  for  the  ministry.  His  name  had  been  down  as  a law  stu- 
dent at  Lincoln’s  Inn,  but  he  now  felt  a higher  call,  and  yielded 
at  once  to  his  convictions  of  duty.  He  graduated  at  Cam- 
bridge in  1842  with  high  honors,  as  senior  optime  in  math- 
ematics, and  first-class  in  classics.  The  following  spring 
he  received  the  offer  of  two  curacies,  one  at  Kingsley,  the 
other  at  Eversley.  He  chose  the  latter,  little  thinking  at 
the  time  that  the  quiet  parish  with  its  pretty,  fir-embowered 
hamlets,  was  to  be  his  home  for  more  than  thirty  years. 

In  1844  he  was  appointed  rector  of  Eversley,  and  his 
marriage  fo  Miss  Grenfell  took  place  soon  after.  It  was 
during  this  summer  that  he  made  the  acquaintance  of  the 
Rev.  F.  D.  Maurice,  whose  writings  had  already  exerted 
a powerful  iufluence  over  him.  A warm  and  lasting 
friendship  sprang  up  between  them ; and  in  their  identi- 
fication with  the  Broad  Church  party  and  their  deep, 
active  sympathy  with  every  effort  to  elevate  the  work- 
ing classes,  the  names  of  Maurice  and  Kingsley  will 
always  be  associated  together.  The  Saints  Tragedy , a 
dramatic  poem  founedd  upon  the  history  of  Elizabeth 
of  Hungary,  published  in  1848,  was  destined  to  excite  a 
great  deal  of  harsh  criticism  from  the  High  Church 
party. 

The  publication  of  Yeast , which  came  out  later  in  the  year 
as  a serial  in  Fraser's  Magazine , occasioned  still  more  bitter 
enmity  against  the  rector  of  Eversley ; and  his  participation 


Charles  Kingsley . 


9 


the  next  year  in  the  Chartist  movement  was  misinterpreted 
even  by  his  friends. 

“ I will  not  be  a liar/’  he  wrote  to  his  wife;  “ I will 
speak  in  season  and  out  of  season.  I will  not  shun  to 
declare  the  whole  counsel  of  God.  I will  not  take  coun- 
sel with  flesh  and  blood,  and  flatter  myself  into  the 
dream  that  while  every  man  on  earth,  from  Maurice  back 
to  Abel,  who  ever  tried  to  testify  against  the  world,  has 
been  laughed  at,  misunderstood,  slandered,  and  that,  bit- 
terest of  all,  by  the  very  people  he  loved  best,  and  un- 
derstood best,  I alone  am  to  escape.  My  path  is  clear, 
and  I will  follow  in  it.”  At  one  of  the  Monday  even- 
ing gatherings  at  Maurice’s,  he  found  himself  in  a minor- 
ity of  one,  and  playfully  remarked  that  “ he  felt  much 
as  Lot  must  have  felt  in  the  Cities  of  the  Plain,  when  he 
seemed  as  one  that  mocked  to  his  sons-in-law.”  The 
name  “ Parson  Lot  ” was  then  and  there  suggested,  and 
it  was  under  this  nom  de  plume  that  most  of  his  political 
tracts  and  pamphlets  were  written. 

In  the  autumn  of  this  memorable  year,  his  health  broke 
down  completely,  and  he  was  obliged  to  give  up  his  pa- 
rochial work  for  a number  of  months.  While  wandering 
on  the  sea-shore,  however,  in  pursuit  of  health,  his  brain 
was  dreaming  over  The  Autobiography  of  a Cockziey 
Poet , which  finally  developed  into  Alton  Locke%  Through- 
out life  his  habit  of  writing  was,  first  of  all,  to 
thoroughly  master  his  subject  out  zii  the  open  air . “ He 

would  never  put  pen  to  paper  till  his  ideas  were  clothed 
in  words,  and  these,  except  in  the  case  of  poetry,  he  sel- 
dom altered.  For  a number  of  years  the  writing  was  all 
done  by  his  wife  from  dictation,  as  he  walked  restlessly  up 
and  down  the  room.” 

Hypatia  was  begun  as  a serial  in  Fraser  s Magazine , in 
1851,  and  frequent  contributions  from  Kingsley  may  also 
be  found  in  the  Christian  Socialist  and  other  periodicals 
of  that  year.  The  winter  and  spring  of  1854  were  spent 


IO 


Charles  Kingsley . 


in  Torquay,  a leave  of  absence  from  his  parish  having 
been  granted  him  on  account  of  his  wife’s  health.  His 
sea-shore  studies  here  developed  into  Glaucus , which  con- 
tains not  only  sketches  of  natural  history,  but  some  of  his 
deepest  and  most  interesting  thoughts  on  the  “ transmu- 
tation theory,”  and  Vestiges  of  Creation.  As  his  wife’s 
health  forbade  their  returning  to  a colder  climate,  he  set- 
tled with  his  family  at  Bideford,  and  his  surroundings  here 
for  the  next  twelve  months  are  graphically  depicted  in  the 
opening  pages  of  Westward  Ho! 

In  the  summer  of  1856  he  took,  with  his  friends  Thomas 
Hughes  and  Thomas  Taylor,  a trip  to  Snowden,  which  re- 
sulted in  the  writing  of  Two  Years  Ago.  In  i860  he  was 
appointed  Professor  of  Modern  History  at  Cambridge,  and 
during  the  winter  of  1860-61  he  gave  private  lectures  to 
the  Prince  of  Wales,  who  had  just  left  Oxford.  In  1863, 
his  name  was  proposed  by  Sir  Charles  Bunbury  and  sec- 
onded by  Sir  Charles  Lyell,  as  a fellow  of  the  Geological 
Society.  He  undertook  the  editorship  of  Fraser  s Maga- 
zine while  Mr.  Froude  was  in  Spain,  delivered  several 
courses  of  lectures  and  wrote  a number  of  books  for  chil- 
dren in  addition  to  his  other  labors,  but  his  health  failing 
him  again,  he  was  obliged  to  give  up  all  work,  and  in  the 
winter  of  1869  embarked  with  his  daughter  for  the 
West  Indies. 

It  was  the  dream  of  his  life  to  see  the  rich  tropical 
land  so  vividly  described  to  him  in  boyhood  by  his  mother, 
and  in  his  delightful  volume  At  Last , we  have  an  interesting 
record  of  the  seven  months  he  spent  among  these  beautiful 
islands.  A few  years  before,  he  had  entered  upon  his  duties 
as  Canon  of  Chester,  and  in  1874  he  was  offered  the  Canonry 
of  Westminster. 

His  visit  to  the  United  States  that  same  year  was  a much- 
needed  rest  and  relaxation  to  him. 

“ I never  want  medicine  or  tonic  here,”  he  writes  from  New 
York,  “but  one  cannot  do  as  much  here  as  at  home.  All  say 


Charles  Kingsley. 


ii 


so,  and  I find  it  so.  One  can  go  faster  for  awhile,  but  gets  ex- 
hausted sooner.  As  for  the  people,  they  are  quite  charming. 
. . . . Mr.  Longfellow  and  others  warn  me  not  to  let  this 

over-stimulating  climate  tempt  me  to  over-work.  One  feels 
ready  to  do  any  thing,  and  then  suddenly  very  tired.  But  I 
am  at  rest  now.” 

On  his  return  to  England  in  the  sultry  August  weather,  he 
found  much  sickness  among  hi^  parishioners  at  Eversley ; and 
in  his  ever-ready  sympathy  he  over-taxed  his  own  delicate 
frame.  The  dangerous  illness  of  his  wife  at  this  time  was  a 
great  shock  to  him,  and  when  he  was  told  there  was  no  hope, 
he  said,  “ My  own  death-warrant  is  signed  with  those  words.” 
On  Advent  Sunday  he  preached  his  last  sermon  in  West- 
minster Abbey,  and  closed  with  these  words : 

“ Let  us  say  in  utter  faith,  ‘ Come  as  thou  seest  best.  But 
in  whatsoever  way  thou  comest  — even  so  come  Lord  Jesus.’  ” 

On  the  28th  of  December  he  was  seized  with  a severe  at- 
tack of  pneumonia,  from  which  he  never  rallied. 

“ It  is  all  right,”  he  would  frequently  repeat  to  himself, 
‘‘all  under  rule 

His  last  audible  words  were  a portion  of  the  beautiful 
Burial  Service  ; and  just  before  noon  upon  the  23d  of  January, 
1875,  he  passed  away  without  a struggle.  The  sad  tidings  of 
his  death  cast  a gloom  over  the  whole  country.  Dean  Stanley 
immediately  offered  a place  in  Westminster  Abbey  “to  the 
Canon  and  the  Poet ; ” but,  according  to  his  own  wishes, 
Charles  Kingsley  was  buried  in  the  quiet  little  churchyard  at 
Eversley. 

Above  his  grave  his  wife  has  placed  a white  marble  cross, 
and  just  under  a spray  of  his  favorite  passion-flower  are  these 
words,  chosen  by  himself : 

“Amavimus,  Amamus,  Amabimus.” 


E.  E.  B. 


V 


LIVING  TRUTHS 


I. 


We  are  neither  to  regret  the  past  nor  rest  satisfied 
in  the  present ; but,  like  St.  Paul,  forgetting  those 
things  that  are  behind  us,  and  reaching  onward  to 
those  things  that  are  before  us,  press  forward,  each 
and  all,  to  the  prize  of  our  high  calling  in  Jesus 
Christ. 

And,  as  with  nations  and  empires,  so  with  our 
own  private  lives.  It  is  not  wise  to  ask  why  the 
former  times  were  better  than  these.  It  is  natural, 
pardonable,  but  not  wise ; because  we  are  so  apt 
to  mistake  the  subject  about  which  we  ask,  and  when 
we  say,  “ Why  were  the  old  times  better  ? ” merely 
to  mean  “Why  were  the  old  times  happier?”  That 
is  not  the  question.  There  is  something  higher 
than  happiness,  says  a wise  man.  There  is  blessed- 
ness; the  blessedness  of  being  good  and  doing  good, 
of  being  right  and  doing  right.  That  blessedness 
we  may  have  at  all  times.  We  may  be  blest  even 

13 


14 


LIVING  TRUTHS. 


in  anxiety  and  in  sadness.  We  may  be  blest  even 
as  the  martyrs  of  old  were  blest,  in  agony  and  death. 
The  times  are  to  us  whatsoever  our  character  makes 
them.  And  if  we  are  better  men  than  we  were  in 
former  times,  then  is  the  present  better  than  the 
past,  even  though  it  be  less  happy.  And  why 

should  it  not  be  better?  Surely  the  Spirit  of  God, 
the  spirit  of  progress  and  improvement,  is  working 
in  us,  the  children  of  God,  as  well  as  in  the  great 
world  around.  Surely  the  years  ought  to  have  made 
us  better,  more  useful,  more  worthy.  We  may  have 
been  disappointed  in  our  lofty  ideas  of  what  ought 

to  be  done ; but  we  may  have  gained  more  clear 

and  practical  notions  of  what  can  be  done.  We 

may  have  lost  in  enthusiasm,  and  yet  gained  in 
earnestness.  We  may  have  lost  in  sensibility,  yet 
gained  in  charity,  activity,  and  power.  We  may  be 
able  to  do  far  less,  and  yet  what  we  do  may  be 
far  better  done. 

And  our  very  griefs  and  disappointments  — have 
they  been  useless  to  us  ? Surely  not.  We  shall 
have  gained,  instead  of  lost,  by  them,  if  the  Spirit 
of  God  be  working  in  us.  Our  sorrows  will  have 
wrought  in  us  patience,  our  patience  experience  of  God’s 
sustaining  grace,  who  promises  that,  as  our  day  our 
strength  shall  be  ; and  of  God’s  tender  providence, 
which  tempers  the  wind  to  the  shorn  lamb,  and 
lays  on  none  a burden  beyond  what  they  are  able 


PROGRESS. 


*5 


to  bear.  And  that  experience  will  have  worked  in 
us  hope ; hope  that  he  who  has  led  us  thus  far 
will  lead  us  farther  still  ; that  he  who  brought  us 
through  the  trials  of  youth  will  bring  us  through 
the  trials  of  age ; that  he  who  taught  us 
in  former  days  precious  lessons,  will  teach  us  in 
the  days  to  come  fresh  lessons  by  temptations  which 
we  shall  be  more  able  to  endure,  and  by  joys 
which,  though  unlike  those  of  old  times,  are  no 
less  sacred,  no  less  sent  as  lessons  to  our  souls, 
by  him  from  whom  all  good  gifts  come. 

We  will  believe  this.  And  instead  of  inquiring 
why  the  former  days  were  better  than  these,  we 
will  trust  that  the  coming  days  shall  be  better  than 
these,  and  those  which  are  coming  after  them  better 
still  again,  because  God  is  our  Father,  Christ  our 
Savicu-,  the  Holy  Ghost  our  Comforter  and  Guide. 
We  will  toil  onward,  because  we  know  we  are  toil- 
ing upward.  We  will  live  in  hope,  not  in  regret ; 
because  hope  is  the  only  state  of  mind  fit  for  a 
race  for  whom  God  has  condescended  to  stoop  and 
suffer,  and  die,  and  rise  again.  We  will  believe 
that  we,  and  all  we  love,  whether  in  earth  or 
Heaven,  are  destined — if  we  be  only  true  to  God’s 
Spirit  — to  rise,  improve,  progress  forever:  and  so 
we  will  claim  our  share,  and  keep  our  place,  in 
that  vast  ascending  and  improving  scale  of  being, 
which,  as  some  dream  — and  surely  not  in  vain  — 


i6 


LIVING  TRUTHS. 


goes  onward  and  upward  forever  throughout  the 
universe  of  him  who  wills  that  none  should  perish. 

II. 

Let  no  man  peering  down 
Through  the  dim,  glittering  mine  of  future  years, 
Say  to  himself,  “Too  much!  this  cannot  be!” 
To-day  and  custom  wall  up  our  horizon  : 

Before  the  hourly  miracle  of  life 
Blindfold  we  stand,  and  sigh,  as  though  God  were 
not. 

I have  wandered  in  the  mountains,  mist-bewildered, 
And  now  a breeze  comes,  and  the  veil  is  lifted, 
And  priceless  flowers,  o’er  which  I trod  unheeding, 
Gleam  ready  for  my  grasp. 

III. 

Science  has  taught  men  to  admire  where  they 
used  to  dread ; to  rule  where  they  used  to  obey ; 
to  employ  for  harmless  uses  what  they  were  once 
afraid  to  touch ; and  where  they  once  saw  only 
fiends,  to  see  the  orderly  and  beneficent  laws  of 
the  all-good  and  almighty  God.  Everywhere,  as 
the  work  of  nature  is  unfolded  to  our  eyes,  we  see 
beauty,  order,  mutual  use,  the  offspring  of  perfect 
Love  as  well  as  perfect  Wisdom.  Everywhere  we 


PROGRESS. 


i7 


are  finding  means  to  employ  the  secret  forces  of 
nature  for  our  own  benefit,  or  to  ward  off  physical 
evils  which  seemed  to  our  forefathers  as  inevitable, 
supernatural.  And,  even  the  pestilence,  instead  of 
being,  as  was  once  fancied,  the  capricious  and  mirac- 
ulous infliction  of  some  demon — the  pestilence  itself 
is  found  to  be  an  orderly  result  of  the  same  laws 
by  which  the  sun  shines  and  the  herb  grows ; a 
product  of  nature ; and  therefore  subject  to  man, 
to  be  prevented  and  extirpated  by  him  if  he  will. 

IV. 

Forward  ! hark  ! forward’s  the  cry ! 

One  more  fence  and  we’re  out  on  the  open ! 

So  to  us  at  once,  if  you  want  to  live  near  us  — 
Follow  them,  hark  to  them,  darlings  ! as  on  they  go, 
Leaping  and  sweeping  down  into  the  vale  below ! 
Cowards  and  bunglers  whose  heart  or  whose  eye 
is  slow 

Find  themselves  staring  alone. 

So  the  great  cause  flashes  by, 

Nearer  and  clearer  its  purposes  open, 

While  louder  and  louder  the  world-echoes  cheer  us: 
Gentlemen,  sportsmen,  you  ought  to  live  up  to  us, 
Lift  us  and  lead  us,  and  halloo  our  game  to  us  — 
We  cannot  take  the  hounds  off,  and  no  shame  to  us  — 

Don't  be  left  staring  alone. 


i8 


LIVING  TRUTHS. 


V. 

The  life  of  our  souls  is  in  some  respects  like 
the  life  of  a plant.  Why  do  you  plant  any  thing, 
but  in  order  that  it  may  grow,  and  become  larger, 
stronger,  bear  flower  and  fruit  ? Be  sure  God  has 
planted  us  in  his  garden,  Christ’s  Church,  for  no 
other  reason.  Consider  again  : What  is  life  but  a 
continual  growing,  or  a continual  decaying  ? If  a 
tree  does  not  get  larger  and  stronger  year  by  year, 
is  not  that  a sure  sign  that  it  is  unhealthy,  and 
that  decay  has  begun  in  it ; that  it  is  unsound  at 
heart  ? And  what  happens  then  ? It  begins  to  be- 
come weaker  and  smaller,  and  cankered  and  choked 
with  scurf  and  moss  till  it  dies.  If  a tree  is  not 
growing,  it  is  sure  in  the  long  run  to  be  dying;  and 
so  are  our  souls.  If  they  are  not  growing,  they 
are  dying;  if  they  are  not  getting  better,  they  are 
getting  worse.  This  is  why  the  Bible  compares  our 
souls  to  trees;  not  out  of  a mere  pretty  fancy  of 
poetry,  but  for  a great,  awful,  deep,  world-wide 
lesson,  that  every  tree  in  the  fields  may  be  a pat- 
tern, a warning,  to  us  thoughtless  men,  that  as 
that  tree  is  meant  to  grow,  so  our  souls  are  meant 
to  grow.  As  that  tree  dies  unless  it  grows,  so  our 
souls  must  die  unless  they  grow.  Consider  that. 

But  how  does  a tree  grow  ? How  are  our  souls 
to  grow  ? Now,  here  again,  we  shall  understand 


PROGRESS. 


r9 


heavenly  things  best  by  taking  and  considering  the 
pattern  from  among  earthly  things  which  the  Bible 
gives  us ; the  tree,  I mean.  A tree  grows  in  two 
ways.  Its  roots  take  up  food  from  the  ground,  its 
leaves  take  up  food  from  the  air.  Its  roots  are 
its  mouth,  we  may  say,  and  its  leaves  are  its 
lungs.  Thus  the  tree  draws  nourishment  from  the 
earth  beneath,  and  from  the  heaven  above ; and 
so  must  our  souls.  If  they  are  to  live  and  grow, 
they  must  have  food  both  from  earth  and  from 
heaven. 


VI. 


A floating,  a floating 
Across  the  sleeping  sea, 

All  night  I heard  a singing  bird 
Upon  the  topmost  tree. 

Oh  came  you  from  the  isles  of  Greece 
Or  from  the  banks  of  Seine ; 

Or  off  some  tree  in  forests  free, 

Which  fringe  the  western  main  ? ” 


“I  came  not  off  the  Old  World 
Nor  yet  from  off  the  New  — 

But  I am  one  of  the  birds  of  God 
Which  sing  the  whole  night  through.” 


20 


LIVING  TRUTHS. 


“Oh  sing  and  wake  the  dawning  — 

Oh  whistle  for  the  wind; 

The  night  is  long,  the  current  strong, 

My  boat  it  lags  behind.” 

“ The  current  sweeps  the  Old  World, 

The  current  sweeps  the  New ; 

The  wind  will  blow,  the  dawn  will  glow, 

Ere  thou  hast  sailed  them  through.” 

VII. 

Why  has  God  given  us  senses,  eyes  and  ears 
and  understanding  ? That  by  them  we  may  feed 
our  souls  with  things  which  we  see  and  hear; 
things  which  are  going  on  in  the  world  around  us. 

We  must  read,  and  we  must  listen,  and  we 
must  watch  people  and  their  sayings  and  doings, 
and  what  becomes  of  them,  and  we  must  try  and 
act  and  practise  what  is  right  for  ourselves:  and 
so  by  using  our  eyes  and  ears  and  understandings 
we  may  feed  our  souls  with  earthly  learning  and 
experience.  But  is  this  enough?  No,  surely.  Con- 
sider, again,  God’s  example  which  he  has  given  us 
— a tree.  If  you  keep  stripping  all  the  leaves  off 
a tree  as  fast  as  they  grow,  what  becomes,  of  it  ? 
It  dies;  because  without  leaves  it  cannot  get  nour- 
ishment from  the  air,  and  the  rain,  and  the  sun- 


PROGRESS . 


21 


light.  Again,  if  you  shut  up  a tree  where  it  can 
neither  have  rain,  air,  nor  light,  what  happens  ? 
The  tree  certainly  dies,  though  it  may  be  planted 
in  the  very  richest  soil,  and  have  the  very  strongest 
roots.  And  why  ? Because  it  can  get  no  food  from 
the  sky  above.  So  with  our  souls.  If  we  get  no 
food  from  above,  our  souls  will  die,  though  we 
have  all  the  wit,  and  learning,  and  experience  in 
the  world.  We  must  be  fed  and  strengthened  and 
satisfied  with  the  grace  of  God  from  above ; 
with  the  Spirit  of  God.  Consider  how  the  Bible 
speaks  of  God’s  Spirit  as  the  breath  of  God ; for 
the  very  word  spirit  means,  originally,  breath,  or 
air,  or  gas,  or  a breeze  of  wind,  showing  us  that 
as  without  the  air  of  heaven  the  tree  would  become 
stunted  and  cankered,  so  our  souls  will  without  the 
fresh,  purifying  breath  of  God’s  Spirit.  * 

VIII. 

I heard  an  eagle  crying  all  alone 

Above  the  vineyards  through  the  summer  night, 

Among  the  skeletons  of  robber  towers  — 

The  iron  homes  of  iron-hearted  lords, 

Now  crumbling  back  to  ruin  year  by  year  — 
Because  the  ancient  eyrie  of  his  race 
Is  trenched  and  walled  by  busy-handed  men, 

And  all  his  forest-chase  and  woodland  wild, 


22 


LIVING  TRUTHS. 


Wherefrom  he  fed  his  young  with  hare  and  roe, 
Are  trim  with  grapes,  which  smell  from  hour  to  hour 
And  toss  their  golden  tendrils  to  the  sun 
For  joy  at  their  own  riches : — So  I thought, 

The  great  devourers  of  the  earth  shall  sit, 

Idle  and  impotent,  they  know  not  why, 
Down-staring  from  their  barren  height  of  state 
On  nations  grown  too  wise  to  slay  and  slave, 

The  puppets  of  the  few,  while  peaceful  love 
And  fellow-help  make  glad  the  heart  of  earth, 

With  wonders  which  they  fear  and  hate,  as  he 
The  eagle  hates  the  vineyard  slopes  below. 

IX. 

In  spite  of  all  man’s  sin,  the  world  does  pros- 
per marvellously,  miraculously ; in  spite  of  all  the 
waste,  destruction,  idleness,  ignorance,  injustice,  and 
folly  which  goes  on  in  the  world,  mankind  increases 
and  replenishes  the  earth,  and  improves  in  comfort 
and  in  happiness;  in  spite  of  all,  God  is  stronger 
than  the  devil,  life  stronger  than  death,  wisdom 
stronger  than  folly,  order  stronger  than  disorder, 
fruitfulness  stronger  than  destruction ; and  they  will 
be  so  more  and  more,  till  the  last  great  day,  when 
Christ  shall  have  put  all  enemies  under  his  feet, 
and  death  is  swallowed  up  in  victory,  and  all  man- 
kind is  one  fold,  under  one  Shepherd,  Jesus  Christ, 
the  righteous  King  of  all. 


PROGRESS . 


23 


X. 

The  Day  of  the  Lord  is  at  hand,  at  hand! 

Its  storms  roll  up  the  sky : 

A nation  sleeps,  starving  on  heaps  of  gold ; 

All  dreamers  toss  and  sigh ; 

The  night  is  darkest  before  the  dawn  — 

When  the  pain  is  sorest,  the  child  is  born, 

And  the  Day  of  the  Lord  at  hand. 

Gather  you,  gather  you,  angels  of  God  — 

Freedom,  and  Mercy,  and  Truth ; 

Come  ! for  the  earth  is  grown  coward  and  old  — 
Come  down  and  renew  us  her  youth. 

Wisdom,  Self-sacrifice,  Daring  and  Love, 

Haste  to  the  battle-field,  stoop  from  above, 

Lo!  the  Day  of  the  Lord  at  hand. 

Gather  you,  gather  you,  hounds  of  hell  — 

Famine,  and  Plague,  and  War; 

Idleness,  Bigotry,  Cant  and  Misrule, 

Gather,  and  fall  in  the  snare! 

Hirelings  and  Mammonites,  Pedants  and  Knaves 
Crawl  to  the  battle-field  — sneak  to  your  graves 
In  the  Day  of  the  Lord  at  hand. 

Who  would  sit  down  and  sigh  for  a lost  age  of  gold, 
While  the  Lord  of  all  ages  is  here? 


24 


LIVING  TRUTHS. 


True  hearts  will  leap  up  at  the  trumpet  of  God, 

And  those  who  can  suffer,  can  dare. 

Each  old  age  of  gold  was  an  iron  age,  too, 

And  the  meekest  of  saints  may  find  stern  work 
to  do, 

In  the  Day  of  the  Lord  at  hand. 

XI. 

If  a man  lives  on  in  health,  people  say  he  lives 
by  the  strength  of  his  own  constitution  ; if  he 
drops  down  dead,  they  say  he  died  by  “ the  vis- 
itation of  God.”  If  the  corn-crops  go  on  all  right 
and  safe,  they  think  that  quite  natural — the  effect 
of  the  soil,  and  the  weather,  and  their  own  skill  in 
farming  and  gardening.  But  if  there  comes  a hail- 
storm or  a blight,  and  spoils  it  all,  and  brings  on 
a famine,  they  call  it  at  once  “ a visitation  of  God.” 
My  friends ! do  you  think  God  “ visits  ” the  earth 
or  you  only  to  harm  you?  I tell  you  that  every 
blade  of  grass  grows  by  “the  visitation  of  God.” 
I tell  you  that  every  healthy  breath  you  ever  drew, 
every  cheerful  hour  you  ever  spent,  every  good  crop 
you  ever  housed  safely,  came  to  you  by  “ the  visit- 
ation of  God.”  I tell  you  that  every  sensible 
thought  or  plan  that  ever  came  into  your  heads, 
every  loving,  honest,  manly  feeling  that  ever  rose  in 
your  hearts,  God  “ visited  ” you  to  put  it  there. 


PROVIDENCE . 


25 


If  God's  Spirit  had  not  given  it  you,  you  would 
never  have  gotten  it  of  yourselves. 

XII. 

We  are  too  apt  to  say  to  ourselves,  “ Our  earthly 
comforts  here  have  nothing  to  do  with  godliness  or 
God ; God  must  save  our  souls,  but  our  bodies  we 
must  save  ourselves.  God  gives  us  spiritual  bless- 
ings ; but  earthly  blessings,  the  good  things  of  this 
life,  for  them  we  must  scramble  and  drudge  our- 
selves, and  get  as  much  of  them  as  we  can  with- 
out offending  God."  As  if  God  grudged  us  our 
comforts ! as  if  godliness  had  not  the  promise  of 
this  life  as  well  as  the  life  to  come  ! If  we  would 
but  believe  that  God  knows  our  necessities  before 
we  ask ; that  he  gives  us  daily  more  than  we  can 
ever  get  by  working  for  it ; if  we  would  but  seek 
first  the  kingdom  of  God  and  his  righteousness, 
all  other  things  would  be  added  to  us ; and  we 
should  find  that  he  who  loses  his  life  should  save 
it.  And  this  way  of  looking  at  God's  earth  would 
not  make  us  idle ; it  would  not  tempt  us  to  sit 
with  folded  hands  for  God’s  blessings  to  drop  into 
our  mouths.  No  ! I believe  it  would  make  men  far 
more  industrious  than  ever  mere  self-interest  can 
make  them ; they  would  say,  “ God  is  our  father ; 
he  gave  his  only  Son ; he  gives  us  all  things  freely ; 


26 


LIVING  TRUTHS. 


we  owe  him  not  slavish  service,  but  a boundless 
debt  of  cheerful  gratitude.  Therefore  we  must  do 
his  will,  and  we  are  sure  his  will  is  that  we  should 
work , and  therefore  we  must  work.  He  has  bidden 
us  labor  on  this  earth ; he  has  bidden  us  dress  it 
and  keep  it,  conquer  it  and  fill  it  for  him.  We 
are  his  stewards  here  on  earth,  and  therefore  it  is 
a glory  and  an  honor  to  be  allowed  to  work  here 
in  God’s  own  land ; in  our  loving  Father’s  owjl 
garden. 

“ They  wait  on  Him,”  says  David.  The  beasts, 
and  birds,  and  insects,  the  strange  fish,  and  shells, 
and  the  nameless  corals,  too,  in  the  deep,  deep 
sea,  who  build  and  build  below  the  water  for 
years  and  thousands  of  years,  every  little  tiny  creat- 
ure bringing  his  atom  of  lime  to  add  to  the  great 
heap,  till  their  heap  stands  out  of  the  water  and 
becomes  dry  land  ; and  seeds  float  thither  over  the 
wide,  waste  sea,  and  trees  grow  up,  and  birds  are 
driven  thither  by  storms ; and  men  come  by  acci- 
dent in  stray  ships,  and  build,  and  sow,  and  multi- 
ply, and  raise  churches  and  worship  the  God  of 
Heaven,  and  Christ  the  blessed  One,  on  that  new 
land  which  the  little  coral-worms  have  built  up  from 
the  deep.  Consider  that.  Who  sent  them  there  ? 
Who  contrived  that  those  particular  men  should 
light  on  that  new  island  at  that  especial  time  ? Who 
guided  thither  those  seeds,  those  birds  ? Who 


PROVIDENCE . 


2? 


gave  those  insects  that  strange  longing  and  power 
to  build  and  build  on  continually?  Christ,  by  whom 
all  things  are  made,  to  whom  all  power  is  given  in 
heaven  and  earth  ; he  and  his  spirit,  and  none  else. 
It  is  when  he  opens  his  hand  they  are  filled  with 
good.  It  is  when  he  takes  away  their  breath  they 
die,  and  turn  again  to  their  dust.  He  lets  his  breath, 
his  spirit  go  forth,  and  out  of  that  dead  dust  grow 
plants  and  herbs  afresh  for  man  and  beast,  and  he 
renews  the  face  of  the  earth.  For,  says  the  wise 
man:  “ All  things  are  God’s  garments” — outward 

and  visible  signs  of  his  unseen  and  unapproachable 
glory;  and  when  they  are  worn  out,  he  changes 
them,  says  the  Psalmist,  as  a garment,  and  they 
shall  be  changed. 

in 

**'  0, 

The  old  order  changes,  giving  place  to  the  new, 

And  God  fulfils  himself  in  many  ways. 

XIII.  ; ,V 

t z„  & 

> Li  G 

Be  sure  that  God  would  not  have  made  man,  and 
given  him  power,  and  sent  him  upon  this  earth, 
unless  this  earth  had  been  a right,  good  and  fit 

place  for  him.  Be  sure  that  if  you  obey  the  laws 
of  this  earth  where  God  has  put  you,  you  will 
never  need  to  be  anxious  or  to  fret ; but  you  will 
prosper  right  well,  you  and  your  children  after  you. 


28 


LIVING  TRUTHS. 


For  “ Consider  the  fowls  of  the  air,  they  neither 
sow  nor  reap  and  gather  into  barns,  and  yet  your 
Heavenly  Father  feeds  them  ; and  are  ye  not  much 
better  than  they  ? ” Surely  you  are,  for  you  can 
sow  and  reap  and  gather  into  barns.  And  if  God 
makes  the  earth  work  so  well  that  it  feeds  the 

fowls  who  cannot  help  themselves,  how  much  more 
will  the  earth  feed  you  who  can  help  yourselves, 
because  God  has  given  you  understanding  and 

prudence. 

But  as  for  anxiety,  fretting,  repining,  complain- 

ing to  God,  “ Why  hast  Thou  made  me  thus  ? ” 
What  use  in  that  ? “ Which  of  you  by  taking- 

thought  can  add  one  cubit  to  his  stature  ? ” Will 
all  the  fretting  and  anxiety  in  the  world  make 
you  one  foot  or  one  inch  taller  than  you  are? 
Will  it  make  you  stronger,  wiser,  more  able  to  help 
yourself?  You  are  what  you  are;  you  can  do  what 
God  has  given  you  power  to  do.  Trust  him  that 
he  has  made  you  strong  enough  and  wise  enough 
to  Q^rn  your  daily  bread,  and  to  prosper  right  well, 
if  you  will,  upon  this  earth  which  he  has  made. 
And  why  be  anxious  about  clothing  ? “ Consider 

the  lilies  of  the  field,  how  they  grow ; they  toil 
not,  neither  do  they  spin ; and  yet  Solomon  in  all 
his  glory  was  not  arrayed  like  one  of  these. ” 
But  man  can  toil,  man  can  spin  ; your  Heavenly 
Father  has  given  to  man  the  power  of  providing 


PROVIDENCE. 


29 


clothes  for  himself,  and  not  for  himself  only,  but 
for  others ; so  that  while  the  man  who  tills  the 

soil  feeds  the  man  who  spins  and  weaves,  the 

man  who  spins  and  weaves  shall  clothe  the  man 
who  tills  the  soil  ; and  the  town  shall  work  for 
the  country,  while  the  country  feeds  the  town ; 
and  every  man,  if  he  does  but  labor  where  God 
has  put  him,  shall  produce  comforts  for  human 
beings  whom  he  never  saw,  who  live,  perhaps,  in 
foreign  lands  across  the  sea.  For  so  the  Heavenly 
Father  has  knit  together  the  great  family  of  man 
in  one  blessed  bond  of  mutual  need  and  mutual 
usefulness  all  over  the  world. 

XIV. 

Far  among  the  lonely  hills, 

As  I lay  beside  my  sheep, 

Rest  came  down  upon  my  soul, 

From  the  everlasting  deep. 

Changeless  march  the  stars  above, 

Changeless  morn  succeeds  to  even  ; 

And  the  everlasting  hills 

Changeless  watch  the  changeless  heaven. 

See  the  rivers,  how  they  run, 

Changeless  to  the  changeless  sea; 


3o 


LIVING  TRUTHS. 


All  around  is  forethought  sure, 

Fixed  will  and  stern  decree. 

Can  the  sailor  move  the  main  ? 

Will  the  potter  heed  the  clay  ? 

Mortal ! where  the  spirit  drives, 

Thither  must  the  wheels  obey. 

Neither  ask,  nor  fret,  nor  strive ; 

Where  thy  path  is  thou  shalt  go ; 

He  who  made  the  stream  of  time 
Wafts  thee  down  to  weal  or  woe. 

XV. 

As  you  grow  older,  you  will  see  more  and  more 
the  depth  of  human  ignorance,  the  vanity  of  human 
endeavors.  You  will  feel  more  and  more  that  the 
world  is  going  God’s  way,  and  not  yours,  or  mine, 
or  any  man’s ; and  that  if  you  have  been  allowed 
to  do  good  work  on  earth,  that  work  is  probably 
as  different  from  what  you  fancy  it  as  the  tree  is 
different  from  the  seed  whence  it  springs.  You  will 
grow  content,  therefore,  not  to  see  the  real  fruit  of 
your  labors ; because  if  you  saw  it  you  would 
probably  be  frightened  at  it,  and  what  is  very  good 
in  the  eyes  of  God  would  not  be  very  good  in 
yours  ; content,  also,  to  receive  your  discharge 


HAPPINESS. 


3* 


and  work  and  fight  no  more,  sure  that  God  is 
working  and  fighting,  whether  you  are  in  hospital 
or  in  the  field.  And  with  this  growing  sense  of 
the  pettiness  of  human  struggles  will  grow  on 
you  a respect  for  simple  labors,  a thankfulness 
for  simple  pleasures,  a sympathy  with  simple 
people. 


XVI. 

A beautiful  October  morning  it  was.  One  of  those 
in  which  Dame  Nature,  healthily  tired  with  the 
revelry  of  summer,  is  composing  herself  with  a 
quiet,  satisfied  smile  for  her  winter’s  sleep.  Sheets 
of  dappled  cloud  were  sliding  slowly  from  the  west; 
long  bars  of  hazy  blue  hung  over  the  southern  chalk- 
downs,  which  gleamed  pearly  gray  beneath  the  low 
southeastern  sun.  In  the  vale  below,  soft  white 
flakes  of  mist  still  hung  over  the  water-meadows, 
and  barred  the  dark  trunks  of  the  huge  elms  and 
poplars,  whose  fast  yellowing  leaves  came  shower- 
ing down  at  every  rustle  of  the  western  breeze, 
spotting  the  grass  below.  The  river  smiled  along, 
glassy  no  more,  but  dingy  gray  with  autumn  rains 
and  rotten  leaves.  All  beyond  the  garden  told  of 
autumn ; bright  and  peaceful,  even  in  decay.  But 
up  the  sunny  slope  of  the  garden  itself,  and  to  the 
very  window-sill,  summer  still  lingered.  The  beds 


32 


LIVING  TRUTHS. 


of  reel  verbena  and  geranium  were  still  brilliant, 
though  choked  with  fallen  leaves  of  acacia  and  plane  ; 
the  canary  plant,  still  untouched  by  frost,  twined 
its  delicate  green  leaves  and  more  delicate  yellow 
blossoms,  through  the  crimson  lacework  of  the  Vir- 
ginia creeper ; and  the  great  yellow  noisette  swung 
its  long  canes  across  the  window,  filling  all  the  air 
with  fruity  fragrance. 

And  the  good  doctor,  lifting  his  eyes  from  his 
microscope,  looked  out  upon  it  all  with  a quiet  sat- 
isfaction, and,  though  his  lips  did  not  move,  his 
eyes  seemed  to  be  thanking  God  for  it  all ; and 
thanking  him,  too,  perhaps,  that  he  was  still  permit- 
ted to  gaze  upon  that  fair  world  outside.  For  as 
he  gazed,  he  started  as  if  with  sudden  pain,  and 
passed  his  hand  across  his  eyes  with  something  like 
a sigh,  and  then  looked  at  the  microscope  no  more, 
but  sat,  seemingly  absorbed  in  thought,  while  upon 
his  delicate,  toil-worn  features,  and  high,  bland, 
unwrinkled  forehead,  and  the  few  soft,  gray  locks 
which  not  time  — for  he  was  scarcely  fifty-five  — 
but  long  labor  of  brain  had  spared  to  him,  there 
lay  a hopeful  calm,  as  of  a man  who  had  nigh 
done  his  work,  and  felt  that  he  had  not  altogether 
done  it  ill  — an  autumnal  calm,  resigned,  yet  full 
of  cheerfulness,  which  harmonized  fitly  with  the 
quiet  beauty  of  the  decaying  landscape  before 
him. 


HAPPINESS. 


33 


XVII. 

Make  a rule,  and  pray  to  God  to  help  you  to  keep 
it,  never,  if  possible,  to  lie  down  at  night  without 
being  able  to  say  : “ I have  made  one  human  being 

at  least  a little  wiser,  or  a little  happier,  or  a little 
better  this  day.  ” You  will  find  it  easier  than  you 
think,  and  pleasanter.  Easier,  because  if  you  wish 
to  do  God’s  work,  God  will  surely  find  you  work  to 
do ; and  pleasanter,  because  in  return  for  the  little 
trouble  it  may  cost  you,  or  the  little  choking  of  fool- 
ish, vulgar  pride  it  may  cost  you,  you  will  have  a 
peace  of  mind,  a quiet  of  temper,  a cheerfulness 
and  hopefulness  about  yourself  and  all  around  you, 
such  as  you  never  felt  before;  and  over  and  above 
that,  if  you  look  for  a reward  in  the  life  to  come, 
recollect  this : What  we  have  to  hope  for  in  the 

life  to  come  is  to  enter  into  the  joy  of  our  Lord. 
And  how  did  he  fulfil  that  joy,  but  by  humbling 

himself,  and  taking  the  form  of  a slave,  and  com- 
ing, not  to  be  ministered  to,  but  to  minister, 

and  to  give  his  whole  life,  even  to  the  death  upon 
the  cross,  a ransom  for  many.  Be  sure  that  unless 
you  take  up  his  cross  you  will  never  share  his  crown  ; 
be  sure  that  unless  you  follow  in  his  footsteps  you  will 
never  reach  the  place  where  he  is.  If  you  wish  to 
enter  into  the  joy  of  your  Lord,  be  sure  that  his  joy 

is  now,  as  it  was  in  Judea  of  old,  over  every  sinner 


34 


LIVING  TRUTHS. 


that  repenteth,  every  mourner  that  is  comforted, 
every  hungry  mouth  that  is  fed,  every  poor  soul, 
sick  or  in  prison,  who  is  visited. 

XVIII. 

Did  it  ever  strike  you  that  goodness  is  not  merely 
a beautiful  thing,  but  the  beautiful  thing;  by  far  the 
most  beautiful  thing  in  the  world  ; and  that  badness  is 
not  merely  an  ugly  thing,  but  the  ugliest  thing  in  the 
world  ? so  that  nothing  is  to  be  compared  for  value 
with  goodness  ; that  riches,  honor,  power,  pleasure, 
learning,  the  whole  world  and  all  in  it,  are  not  worth 
having,  in  comparison  with  being  good  ; and  the  utterly 
best  thing  for  a man  is  to  be  good,  even  though  he 
were  never  to  be  rewarded  for  it;  and  the  utterly  worst 
thing  for  a man  is  to  be  bad,  even  though  he  were  never 
to  be  punished  for  it ; and,  in  a word,  goodness  is  the 
only  thing  worth  loving,  and  badness  the  only  thing 
worth  hating. 

Did  you  ever  feel  this,  my  friends  ? Happy  are  those 
among  you  who  have  felt  it ; for  of  you  the  Lord  says, 
“ Blessed  are  they  that  do  hunger  and  thirst  after 
righteousness;  for  they  shall  be  filled. ” Ay,  happy  are 
you  who  have  felt  it ; for  it  is  the  sign,  the  very  and 
true  sign,  that  the  Holy  Spirit  of  God,  who  is  the 
Spirit  of  goodness,  is  working  in  your  hearts  with 
power,  revealing  to  you  the  exceeding  beauty  of 


GOODNESS . 


35 


holiness,  and  the  exceeding  sinfulness  of  sin. 
XIX. 

Did  it  never  strike  you,  again  — as  it  has  me — and 
all  the  world  has  looked  different  to  me  since  I found 
it  out  — that  there  must  be  One  in  whom  all  goodness 
is  gathered  together ; One  who  must  be  perfectly 
and  absolutely  good  ? 

And  did  it  never  strike  you  that  all  the  goodness  in 
the  world  must,  in  some  way  or  other,  come  from  Him  ? 
I believe  that  our  hearts  and  reasons,  if  we  will  listen 
fairly  to  them,  tell  us  that  it  must  be  so  ; and  I am 
certain  that  the  Bible  tells  us  so,  from  beginning  to  end. 
When  we  see  the  million  raindrops  of  the  shower,  we 
say,  with  reason,  there  must  be  one  great  sea,  from 
which  all  these  drops  have  come.  When  we  see  the 
countless  rays  of  light,  we  say  with  reason,  there  must 
be  one  great  central  sun  from  which  all  these  are  shed 
forth.  And  when  we  see,  as  it  were,  countless  drops, 
and  countless  rays  of  goodness  scattered  about  in 
the  world,  a little  good  in  this  man,  and  a little  good 
in  that,  shall  we  not  say,  there  must  be  one  great  sea, 
one  central  sun  of  goodness,  from  whence  all  human 
goodness  comes?  And  where  can  that  centre  of  good- 
ness be,  but  in  the  very  character  of  God  himself? 

Yes,  my  friends,  if  you  would  know  what  God  is, 
think  of  all  the  noble,  beautiful,  lovable  actions, 


36 


LIVING  TRUTHS. 


tempers,  feelings,  which  you  ever  saw  or  heard  of. 
Think  of  all  the  good,  and  admirable,  and  lovable 
people  whom  you  ever  met ; and  fancy  to  yourselves 
all  that  goodness,  nobleness,  admirableness,  lovable- 
ness, and  millions  of  times  more,  gathered  together  in 
one,  to  make  one  perfectly  good  character  — and  then 
you  have  some  faint  notion  of  God,  some  dim  sight  of 
God,  who  is  the  eternal  and  perfect  Goodness. 

It  is  but  a faint  notion,  no  doubt,  that  the  best  man 
can  have  of  God’s  goodness,  so  dull  has  sin  made  our 
hearts  and  brains  : but  let  us  comfort  ourselves  with 
this  thought : That  the  more  we  learn  to  love  what  is 
good,  the  more  we  accustom  ourselves  to  think  of 
good  people  and  good  things,  and  to  ask  ourselves  why 
and  how  this  action  and  that  is  good,  the  more  shall 
we  be  able  to  see  the  goodness  of  God.  And  to  see 
that,  even  for  a moment,  is  worth  all  sights  in  earth  or 
heaven. 

XX. 

As  the  rays  come  from  the  sun,  and  yet  are 
not  the  sun,  even  so  our  love  and  pity,  though 
they  are  not  God,  but  merely  a poor  weak  image 
and  reflection  of  him,  yet  from  him  alone  they 
come.  If  there  is  mercy  in  our  hearts,  it  comes 
from  the  fountain  of  mercy.  If  there  is  the  light 
of  love  in  us,  it  is  a ray  from  the  full  sun  of  love. 


DUTY. 


37 


XXL 

If  a man  in  the  struggle  of  life  sees  God  and 
Christ  and  duty  all  around  him,  that  thought  will 
be  a helmet  for  his  head.  It  will  keep  his  brain 
and  mind  clear,  quiet,  prudent  to  perceive  and 
know  what  things  he  ought  to  do.  It  will  give 
him  that  Divine  wisdom,  of  which  Solomon  says 
in  his  proverbs,  that  the  beginning  of  wisdom  is 
the  fear  of  the  Lord. 

XXII. 

It  is  nobler  far  to  do  the  most  commonplace 
duty,  in  the  household,  or  behind  the  counter,  with  a 
single  eye  to  duty,  simply  because  it  must  be  done; 
nobler  far,  I say,  than  to  go  out  of  your  way  to 
attempt  a brilliant  deed,  with  a double  mind  and  say- 
ing to  yourself  not  only  — “This  will  be  a brilliant 
deed,”  but  also  — “and  it  will  pay  me,  or  raise  me, 
or  set  me  off,  into  the  bargain.  Heroism  knows 
no  “into  the  bargain.” 

XXIII. 

Our  Father  hears  the  man  who  cries  to  him, 
however  clumsily,  for  light  and  strength  to  do  his 
duty.  So  it  is ; so  it  has  been  always ; so  it  will 


38 


LIVING  TRUTHS. 


be  to  the  end.  And  then,  as  the  man's  day,  so 
his  strength  will  be.  He  may  be  utterly  puzzled, 
utterly  down-hearted,  utterly  hopeless : but  the  day 
comes  to  him  in  which  he  is  baptized  with  the  Holy 
Ghost  and  with  fire.  He  begins  to  have  a right  judg- 
ment ; to  see  clearly  what  he  ought  to  do,  and 
how  to  do  it.  He  grows  more  shrewd,  more 
prompt,  more  steady  than  he  ever  has  been  before. 
And  there  comes  a fire  into  his  heart,  such  as 
there  never  was  before  ; a spirit  and  a determina- 
tion which  nothing  can  daunt  or  break,  which 
makes  him  bold,  cheerful,  earnest  in  the  face  of 
the  anxiety  and  danger  which  would  have,  at  any 
other  time,  broken  his  heart.  The  man  is  lifted 
by  it  above  himself,  and  carried  on  through  his 
work,  he  hardly  knows  how,  till  he  succeeds  nobly, 
or,  if  he  fails,  fails  nobly ; and  be  the  end  as  it 
may,  he  gets  the  work  done  which  God  has  given 
him  to  do. 


XXIV. 

If  thou  art  living  a righteous  and  a useful  life, 
doing  thy  duty  orderly  and  cheerfully  where  God 
has  put  thee,  then  thou  art  making  sweeter  melody 
in  the  ears  of  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  than  if 
thou  hadst  the  throat  of  a nightingale ; for  then 
thou  in  thy  humble  place  art  humbly  copying  the 


DUTY. 


39 


everlasting  harmony  and  melody  which  is  in  Heaven ; 
the  everlasting  harmony  and  melody  by  which  God 
made  the  world  and  all  that  therein  is,  and  behold 
it  was  very  good,  in  the  day  when  the  morning 

stars  sang  together,  and  all  the  sons  of  God 

shouted  for  joy  over  the  new- created  earth,  which  God 
had  made  to  be  a pattern  of  his  own  perfection. 

XXV. 

The  feeling  that  gives  a man  true  courage  is  the 
sense  of  duty.  Let  men,  women  or  children  once 
feel  that  they  have  a duty  to  perform ; let  them 

once  say  to  themselves,  “ I am  bound  to  do  this 

thing ; it  is  right  for  me  to  do  this  thing ; I owe 

it  as  a duty  to  my  family;  I owe  it  as  a duty 

to  my  country ; I owe  it  as  a duty  to  God, 

who  called  me  into  this  station  in  life ; I owe 

it  as  a duty  to  Jesus  Christ,  who  bought  me 

with  his  blood,  that  I might  do  his  will  and 

not  my  own  pleasure.”  When  a man  has  once 

said  that  honestly  to  himself,  when  that  glorious, 
heavenly  thought  “ It  is  my  duty,”  has  risen  upon 
his  soul,  like  the  sun  upon  the  earth,  warming 

his  heart  and  enlightening  it,  and  making  it  bring 
forth  all  good  and  noble  fruits,  then  that  man  will 
feel  a strength  come  to  him  and  a courage  from 
God  above,  which  will  conquer  all  his  fears  and 


40 


LIVING  TRUTHS. 


his  selfish  love  of  ease  and  pleasure,  and  enable 
him  to  bear  insults,  and  pain,  and  poverty,  and 
death  itself,  provided  he  can  but  do  what  is  right 
and  be  found  by  God,  whatever  happens  to  him, 
working  God’s  will  where  God  has  put  him.  This 
is  fortitude ; this  is  true  courage ; this  is  Christ’s 
likeness.  As  for  doing  fine  things,  I have  learnt 
to  believe  that  I am  not  set  to  do  fine  things,  simply 
because  I am  not  able  to  do  them  ; and  as  for 
seeing  fine  things,  I have  learnt  to  see  the  sight 
- — as  well  as  to  try  to  do  the  duty — which  lies 
nearest  me  ; and  to  comfort  myself  with  the  fancy 
that  if  I make  good  use  of  my  eyes  and  brain 
in  this  life,  I shall  see— if  it  be  of  any  use  to 
me  — all  the  fine  things,  or  perhaps  finer  still,  in 
the  life  to  come.  But  if  not,  what  matter  ? In 
any  life,  in  any  state,  however  simple  or  humble, 
there  will  be  always  sufficient  to  occupy  a minute 
philosopher;  and  if  a man  be  busy,  and  busy 
about  his  duty,  what  more  does  he  require,  for 
time  or  for  eternity? 


XXVI. 

Nothing  is  more  expensive  than  penuriousness ; 
nothing  more  anxious  than  carelessness ; and  every 
duty  which  is  bidden  to  wait,  returns  with  seven 
fresh  duties  at  its  back. 


DUTY. 


4i 


XXVII. 

Thy  duty  is  thy  good,  the  good  out  of  which, 
if  thou  doest  it,  all  good  things  such  as  thou 
canst  not  now  conceive  to  thyself,  must  neces- 
sarily spring  up  for  thee  forever ; but  which  if 
thou  neglectest  thou  wilt  be  in  danger  of  get- 
ting no  good  things  whatsoever,  and  of  having  all 
evil  things,  mishap,  shame,  and  misery  such  as 
thou  canst  not  now  conceive  of,  spring  up  for  thee 
necessarily  forever. 

XVIII. 

Duty,  be  it  in  a small  matter  or  a great,  is 
duty  still ; the  command  of  Heaven,  the  eldest 
voice  of  God.  And  it  is  only  they  who  are  faith- 
ful in  a few  things  who  will  be  faithful  over 
many  things ; only  they  who  do  their  duty  in 
every-day  and  trivial  matters,  who  will  fulfill  them 
on  great  occasions. 

XXIX. 

Keep  God  always  before  your  eyes.  Ask  your- 
self in  every  action,  “ What  is  right,  what  is  my 
duty,  what  would  God  have  me  do  ? ” And  so 
far  from  finding  it  unpleasant,  you  will  find  that 


42 


LIVING  TRUTHS. 


you  are  saving  yourself  a thousand  troubles,  and 
sorrows,  and  petty  anxieties  which  now  trouble 
you  ; you  will  find  that  in  God’s  presence  is  life,  the 
only  life  worth  having;  and  that  at  his  right  hand 
are  pleasures  for  evermore.  Oh  be  sure  that  in 
real  happiness  you  will  not  lose,  but  gain  with- 
out end.  If  to  have  a clear  conscience  and  a 
quiet  mind ; if  to  be  free  from  anxiety  and  dis- 
content, free  from  fear  and  shame  ; if  to  be  loved, 
respected,  looked  up  to  by  all  whose  good  won 
is  worth  having,  and  to  know  that  God  approves 
of  you,  that  all  day  long  God  is  with  you,  and 
you  with  God,  that  his  loving  and  mighty  arms 
are  under  you,  that  he  has  promised  to  keep  you 
in  all  your  ways,  to  prosper  all  you  do,  and 
reward  you  for  ever,  if  this  be  not  happiness, 
what  is  ? 


XXX. 

I do  not  care  for  grace  in  man,  woman,  or 

animal,  which  is  obtained  (as  in  the  old  German 
painters)  at  the  expense  of  honest  flesh  and  blood. 
It  may  be  all  very  pure  and  unearthly  and  saintly, 
and  what  not ; but  it  is  not  healthy,  and  there- 
fore it  is  not  really  High  Art,  let  it  call  itself 

such  as  much  as  it  likes.  The  highest  art  must 

be  that  in  which  the  outward  is  the  most  perfect 


ART 


43 


symbol  of  the  inward ; and  therefore  a healthy 
soul  can  be  only  expressed  by  a healthy  body ; 
and  starved  limbs  and  a hydrocephalus  forehead 
must  be  either  taken  as  incorrect  symbols  of 
spiritual  excellence,  or  as  what  they  were  really 
meant  for  — symbols  of  certain  spiritual  diseases 
which  were  in  the  middle  age  considered  as  eccle- 
siastical graces  and  virtues.  Wherefore  I like 
pagan  and  naturalist  art ; consider  Titian  and  Cor- 
reggio as  unappreciated  geniuses,  whose  excellences 
the  world  will  in  some  saner  mood  re-discover ; 
hold,  in  direct  opposition  to  Rio,  that  Raphael 
improved  steadily  all  his  life  through,  and  that  his 
noblest  works  are  not  his  somewhat  simpering 
Madonnas  and  somewhat  impish  Bambinos  (very 
lovely  though  they  are),  but  his  great,  coarse, 
naturalist,  Protestant  cartoons,  which  (with  Andrea 
Mantegna’s  Heathen  Triumph)  Cromwell  saved  for 
the  British  nation.  Probably  no  one  will  agree  with 
all  this  for  the  next  quarter  of  a century ; but 
after  that  I have  hopes.  The  world  will  grow 
tired  of  pretending  to  admire  Manichaeus  pictures 
in  an  age  of  natural  science ; and  Art  will  let 
the  dead  bury  their  dead,  and  beginning  again 
where  Michael  Angelo  and  Raphael  left  off,  work 
forward  into  a nobler,  truer,  freer,  and  more  divine 
school  than  the  world  has  yet  seen — at  least,  so 
I hope. 


44 


LIVING  TRUTHS. 


XXXI. 

“You  used  to  believe  in  Zeuxis  and  Parrhasius 
in  old  times.  ” 

“Yes,  as  long  as  I believed  in  Fuseli’s  Lectures; 
but  when  I saw  at  Pompeii  the  ancient  paintings 
which  still  remain  to  us,  my  faith  in  their  powers 
received  its  first  shock ; and  when  I re-read  in  the 
Lectures  of  Fuseli  and  his  school  all  their  extrava- 
gant praises  of  the  Greek  painters,  and  separated 
their  few  facts  fairly  out  from  among  the  floods  of 
cant  on  which  they  floated,  I came  to  the  conclu- 
sion that  the  ancients  knew  as  little  of  color  or 
chiaro-oscuro  as  they  did  of  perspective,  and  as 
little  of  spiritual  expression  as  they  did  of  land- 
scape painting.  What  do  I care  for  the  birds  peck- 
ing at  Zeuxis’s  grapes,  or  Zeuxis  himself  trying  to 
draw  back  Parrhasius’s  curtain  ? Imitative  art  is 
the  lowest  trickery.  There  are  twenty  men  now  in 
England  capable  of  the  same  slight  of  hand ; and 
yet  these  are  recorded  as  the  very  highest  triumphs 
of  ancient  art  by  the  only  men  who  have  handed 
down  to  us  any  record  of  it.  ” 

“ It  may  be  so ; or  again,  it  may  not.  But  do 
not  fancy,  Claude,  that  classic  sculpture  has  fin- 
ished its  work  on  earth.  You  know  that  it  has 
taught  you  what  Gothic  art  could  never  teach  — the 
ideal  of  physical  health  and  strength.  Believe  that 


ART. 


45 


it  exists  and  will  exist  to  remind  the  puny  town- 
dweller  of  the  existence  of  that  ideal ; to  say  to 
the  artisan,  every  time  he  looks  upon  a statue, 
such  God  intended  you  to  be ; such  you  may  be ; 
such  your  class  will  be  in  some  future  healthy  state 
of  civilization,  when  sanitary  reform  and  social 
science  shall  be  accepted  and  carried  out  as  pri- 
mary duties  of  a government  toward  the  nation.  ” 

“ Surely,  classic  sculpture  remains  as  a witness 
of ‘the  primeval  paradise;  a witness  that  man  and 
woman  were  created  at  first  healthy,  and  strong, 
and  fair,  and  innocent;  just  as  classic  literature  re- 
mains for  a witness  that  the  heathen  of  old  were 
taught  of  God  ; that  we  have  something  to  learn  of 
them  summed  up  in  that  now  obsolete  word  “virtue” 
— true  and  wholesome  manhood,  which  we  are 
likely  to  forget,  and  are  forgetting  daily,  under  the 
enervating  shadow  of  popular  superstitions.  And 
till  we  have  learned  that,  may  Greek  books  still 
form  the  basis  of  our  liberal  education,  and  may 
Greek  statues,  or  even  English  attempts  to  copy 
them,  fill  public  halls  and  private  houses.  This  gen- 
eration may  not  understand  their  divine  and  eter- 
nal significance;  but  a future  generation,  doubt  it 
not,  will  spell  it  out  right  well.” 

“ Nature  is  beautiful ; and  therefore  nature  can- 
not have  been  truly  copied  if  the  general  effect  of 
a picture  is  not  beautiful  also.  I never  found  out 


4 6 


LIVING  TRUTHS , 


the  fallacy  till  the  other  day  when  looking  at  a cer- 
tain portrait.  The  woman  for  whom  it  was  meant 
was  standing  by  my  side,  young  and  lovely ; the 
portrait  hung  there,  neither  young  nor  lovely,  but  a 
wrinkled  caricature  twenty  years  older  than  the 
model.” 

“ I surely  know  the  portrait  you  mean,  Lady 
D ’s.” 

“Yes;  the  artist  had  simply,  under  pretence  of 
following  nature,  caricatured  her  into  a woman 
twenty  years  older  than  she  is.  ” 

“ But  did  you  ever  see  a modern  portrait  which 
more  perfectly  expressed  character ; which  more 
completely  fulfilled  certain  requirements  which  you 
yourself  laid  down  a few  evenings  since  ? ” 

“Never;  and  that  makes  me  all  the  more  cross 
with  the  wilful  mistake  of  it.  He  had  painted  every 
wrinkle.  ” 

“ Why  not,  if  they  were  there  ? ” 

“ Because  he  had  painted  a face  not  one-twentieth 
of  the  size  of  life.  What  right  had  he  to  cram 
into  that  small  space  all  the  marks  which  nature 
had  spread  over  a far  larger  one  ? ” 

“Why  not,  again,  if  he  diminished  the  marks  in 
proportion  ? ” 

“Just  what  neither  he  nor  any  man  could  do, 
without  making  them  so  small  as  to  be  invisible, 
save  under  a microscope  ; and  the  result  was,  that 


ART. 


47 


he  had  caricatured  every  wrinkle.  Besides,  I utterly 
deny  your  assertion  that  one  is  bound  to  paint  what 
is  there.  On  that  very  fallacy  many  artists  are 
making  shipwreck.” 

“ Not  paint  what  is  there  ? And  you  are  the  man 
who  talks  of  art  being  highest  when  it  copies  nature.” 
“ Exactly.  And  therefore  you  must  paint,  not 
what  is  there,  but  what  you  see  there.  Some  artists 
seem  to  forget  that  human  beings  are  men  with  two 
eyes,  and  not  daguerreotype  lenses  with  one  eye, 
and  so  are  contriving  and  striving  to  introduce  into 
their  pictures  the  very  defect  of  the  daguerreotype 
which  the  stereoscope  is  required  to  correct.” 

“ I comprehend.  They  forget  that  the  double 
vision  of  our  two  eyes  gives  a softness  and  indis- 
tinctness and  roundness,  to  every  outline.” 

64  Exactly  so ; and  therefore,  while  for  distant 
landscapes,  motionless,  and  already  softened  by 
atmosphere,  the  daguerreotype  is  invaluable  (I 
shall  do  nothing  else  this  summer  but  work  at  it), 
yet  for  taking  portraits,  in  any  true  sense,  it  will 
be  always  useless,  not  only  for  the  reason  I just 
gave,  but  for  another  one  which  the  pre-Raphaelites 
have  forgotten.” 

“ Because  all  the  features  cannot  be  in  focus  at 
once  ? ” 

“ O no,  I am  not  speaking  of  that.  Art,  for  aught 
I know,  may  overcome  that ; for  it  is  a mere  defect 


48 


LIVING  TRUTHS. 


in  the  instrument.  What  I mean  is  this:  It  tries  to 

represent  as  still  what  never  yet  was  still  for  the 
thousandth  part  of  a second  ; that  is  a human  face  ; 
and  as  seen  by  a spectator  who  is  perfectly  still, 
which  no  man  ever  yet  was.  My  dear  fellow,  don’t 
you  see  that  what  some  painters  call  idealizing  a 
portrait  is,  if  it  be  wisely  done,  really  painting  for 
you  the  face  which  you  see,  and  know,  and  love  ; her 
ever  shifting  features,  with  expression  varying  more 
rapidly  than  the  gleam  of  the  diamond  on  her 
finger;  features  which  you  in  your  turn  are  looking 
at  with  ever-shifting  eyes  ; while,  perhaps,  if  it  is  a 
face  which  you  love  and  have  lingered  over,  a dozen 
other  expressions  equally  belonging  to  it  are  hang- 
ing in  your  memory,  and  blending  themselves  with 
the  actual  picture  on  your  retina ; till  every 
little  angle  is  somewhat  rounded,  every  little  shade 
somewhat  blended  with  the  surrounding  light,  so 
that  the  sum  total  of  what  you  see,  and  are  intended 
by  Heaven  to  see,  is  something  far  softer,  lovelier  — 
younger,  perhaps,  thank  heaven ! — than  it  would 
look  if  your  head  was  screwed  down  in  a vice,  to 
look  with  one  eye  at  her  head  screwed  down  in  a 
vice  also ; though  even  that,  thanks  to  the  muscles 
of  the  eye,  would  not  produce  the  required  ugli- 
ness ; and  the  only  possible  method  of  fulfilling  the 
pre-Raphaelite  ideal  would  be  to  set  a petrified 
Cyclops  to  paint  his  petrified  brother.,, 


PRAYER. 


49 


XXXII. 

The  longer  I live,  the  more  certain  I am  that 
the  only  reason  for  praying  at  all  is  because  God 
is  our  Father;  the  more  certain  I am  that  we 
shall  never  have  any  heart  to  pray  unless  we  be- 
lieve that  God  is  our  Father.  If  we  forget  that, 
we  may  utter  to  him  selfish  cries  for  bread;  or 
when  we  look  at  his  great  power,  we  may  become 
terrified  and  utter  selfish  cries  to  him  not  to  harm 
us,  without  any  real  shame  or  sorrow  for  sin;  but 
few  of  us  will  have  any  heart  to  persevere  in  those 
cries.  People  will  say  to  themselves,  “ If  God  is 
evil,  he  will  not  care  to  have  mercy  on  me:  and 
if  he  is  good,  there  is  no  use  wearying  him  by 
asking  him  what  he  has  already  intended  to  give 
me:  why  should  I pray  at  all?” 

The  only  answer  is,  “ Pray,  because  God  is  your 
Father,  and  you  his  child.”  The  only  answer; 

but  the  most  complete  answer.  I will  engage 
to  say  that  if  any  one  is  ever  troubled  with 

doubts  about  prayer,  those  two  simple  words, 

“ Our  Father,”  if  he  can  once  really  believe 

them  in  their  full  richness  and  depth,  will  make 
the  doubts  vanish  in  a moment,  and  prayer  seem 
the  most  natural  and  reasonable  of  all  acts.  It 
is  because  we  are  God’s  children,  not  merely 

his  creatures,  that  he  will  have  us  pray.  Because 


5° 


LIVING  TRUTHS. 


he  is  educating  us  to  know  him,  to  know  him 
not  merely  to  be  an  Almighty  Power,  but  a living, 
loving  person;  not  merely  an  irresistible  Fate,  but 
a Father  who  delights  in  the  love  of  his  children, 
who  wishes  to  shape  them  into  his  own  likeness, 
and  make  them  fellow-workers  with  him;  therefore 
it  is  that  he  will  have  us  pray.  Doubtless  he 

could  give  us  every  thing  without  our  asking,  for  he 
does  already  give  us  almost  every  thing  without  our 
asking;  but  he  wishes  to  educate  us  as  his  children 
to  make  us  trust  in  him,  to  make  us  love  him,  to 
make  us  work  for  him,  of  our  own  free  wills,  in  the 
great  battle  which  he  is  carrying  on  against  evil; 
and  that  he  can  only  do  by  teaching  us  to  pray 
to  him.  I say  it  reverently,  but  firmly.  As  far 

as  we  can  see,  God  cannot  educate  us  to  know 

him,  the  living,  willing,  loving  Father,  unless  he 
teaches  us  to  open  our  hearts  to  him,  and  to  ask 
him  freely  for  what  we  want,  just  because  he 

knows  what  we  want  already. 

XXXIII. 

Should  you  like  to  have  a child  who  never 
spoke  to  you,  never  asked  you  for  any  thing?  Of 
course  not.  And  why?  “ Because, ” you  would  say, 
“ one  might  as  well  have  a dumb  animal  in  one’s 
family  instead  of  a child,  if  it  is  never  to  talk 


PR  A YER. 


5i 

and  ask  questions  and  advice;  most  true  and  most 
reasonable;  and  as  you  would  say  concerning  your 
children,  so  says  God  of  his.  You  feel  that  unless 
you  teach  your  children  to  ask  you  for  all  they 
want,  even  though  you  know  their  necessities  be- 

fore they  ask,  and  their  ignorance  in  asking,  you 
will  never  call  out  their  love  and  trust  towards 
you.  You  know  that  if  you  want  really  to  have 

your  child  to  please  and  obey  you,  not  as  a mere 

tame  animal,  but  as  a willing,  reasonable,  loving 
child,  you  must  make  him  know  that  you  are 

training  him ; and  you  must  teach  him  to  come  to 
you  of  his  own  accord  to  be  trained,  to  be  taught 
his  duty,  and  set  right  where  he  is  wrong;  and 
even  so  does  God  with  you.  If  you  will  only  con- 
sider the  way  in  which  any  child  must  be  educated 
by  its  human  parents,  then  you  will  at  once  see 
why  prayer  to  our  Heavenly  Father  is  a necessary 
part  of  our  education  in  the  kingdom  of  Heaven. 

XXXIY. 

If  a man  will  let  God  make  him  a new  creat- 
ure in  Jesus  Christ,  then  he  will  be  more  than 
happy;  he  will  be  blessed:  then  he  will  be  a 
blessing  to  himself,  and  a blessing  to  every  one 
whom  he  meets:  then  all  vain  longing,  and  selfish- 
ness, and  pride,  and  ambition,  and  covetousness, 


52 


LIVING  TRUTHS. 


and  peevishness,  and  disappointment,  will  vanish 
out  of  his  heart,  and  he  will  work  manfully  and 
contentedly  where  God  has  placed  him  - — cheerful 
and  open-hearted,  civil  and  patient,  always  thinking 
about  others,  and  not  about  himself;  trying  to  be 
about  his  Master’s  business,  which  is  doing  good ; 
and  always  finding,  too,  that  his  Master  Christ  sets 
him  some  good  work  to  do  day  by  day,  and  gives 
him  strength  to  do  it.  And  how  can  a man  get 
that  blessed  and  noble  state  of  mind?  By  prayer 
and  practice.  You  must  ask  for  strength  from  God : 
but  then  you  must  believe  that  He  answers  your 
prayer,  and  gives  you  that  strength;  and  therefore  you 
must  try  and  use  it.  There  is  no  more  use  in 
praying  without  practicing  than  there  is  in  practic- 
ing without  praying.  You  cannot  learn  to  walk 
without  walking:  no  more  can  you  learn  to  do 
good  without  trying  to  do  good. 

XXXV. 

Wearily  stretches  the  sand  to  the  surge,  and  the 
surge  to  the  cloud  land  ; 

Wearily  onward  I ride,  watching  the  wild  waa 
alone. 

Not  as  of  old,  like  Homeric  Achilles,  xvdn  yaicov 
Joyous  knight-errant  of  God,  thirsting  for  labor  and 
strife  ; 


DISCIPLINE. 


S3 


No  more  on  magical  steed  borne  free  through  the 
regions  of  ether, 

But,  like  the  hack  which  I ride,  selling  my  sinew 
for  gold. 

Fruit-bearing  autumn  is  gone;  let  the  sad  quiet 
winter  hang  o’er  me  — 

What  were  the  spring  to  a soul  laden  with  sorrow 
and  shame  ? 

Green  leaves  would  fret  me  with  beauty  ; my  heart 
has  no  time  to  bepraise  them ; 

Gray  rock,  bough,  surge,  cloud  — these  wake  no 
yearning  within  ; 

Sing  not,  thou  sky-lark  above,  even  angels  pass 
hushed  by  the  weeper  ! 

Scream  on,  ye  sea-fowl ! my  heart  echoes  your  des- 
olate cry. 

Sweep  the  dry  sand  on,  thou  wild  wind,  to  drift 
o’er  the  shell  and  the  sea-weed ; 

Sea-weed  and  shell,  like  my  dreams,  swept  down  the 
pitiless  tide, 

Just  is  the  wave  that  uptore  us;  ’tis  nature’s  own 
law  which  condemns  us ; 

Woe  to  the  weak  who  in  pride  build  on  the  faith 
of  the  sand  ! 

Joy  to  the  oak  of  the  mountain,  he  trusts  to  the 
might  of  the  rock-clefts ; 

Deeply  he  mines  and  in  peace  feeds  on  the  wealth 
of  the  stone. 


54 


LIVING  TRUTHS. 


XXXVI. 

It  would  be  a miserable  world  if  all  that  the  cler- 
gyman or  the  friend  might  say  by  the  sick-bed  were, 
“ This  is  an  inevitable  evil,  like  hail  and  thunder. 
You  must  bear  it  if  you  can  : and  if  not,  then  not.” 
A miserable  world  if  he  could  not  say  with  full  belief, 
“‘My  son,  despise  not  thou  the  chastening  of  the 
Lord,  nor  faint  when  thou  art  rebuked  of  him.  For 
whom  the  Lord  loveth  he  chasteneth,  and  scourgeth 
every  son  whom  he  receiveth.’  Thou  knowest  not 
now  why  thou  art  afflicted  ; perhaps  thou  wilt  never 
know  in  this  life.  But  a day  will  come  when  thou  wilt 
know,  when  thou  wilt  find  that  this  sickness  came  to 
thee  at  the  exact  right  time,  in  the  exact  right  way  ; 
when  thou  wilt  find  that  God  has  been  keeping  thee  in 
the  secret  place  of  his  presence  from  the  provoking  of 
men,  and  hiding  thee  privately  in  his  tabernacle  from  the 
spite  of  tongues  ; when  thou  wilt  discover  that  thou  hast 
been  learning  precious  lessons  for  thy  immortal  spirit, 
while  thou  didst  seem  to  thyself  merely  tossing  with 
clouded  intellect  on  a bed  of  useless  pain  ; when  thou 
wilt  find  that  God  was  nearest  to  thee  at  the  very 
moment  when  he  seemed  to  have  left  thee  most  utterly.” 

XXXVII. 


Happy,  thrice  happy  are  they  who  have  walked 


DISCIPLINE. 


55 


tfi  ; rgh  the  valley  of  the  shadow  of  death,  and  found 
it  t.  t path  which  leads  to  everlasting  life.  Happy  are 
the)  «vho  have  writhed  awhile  in  the  fierce  fire  of  God, 
and  (lave  had  burnt  out  of  them  the  chaff  and  dross, 
and  ^11  which  offends  and  makes  them  vain,  light,  and 
yet  *oakes  them  dull,  drags  them  down  at  the  same 
tim~  ; till  only  the  pure  gold  of  God’s  righteousness  is 
left,  seven  times  tried  in  the  fire,  incorruptible,  and 
prec  ious  in  the  sight  of  God  and  man.  Such  people 
neec*  not  regret  — they  will  not  regret  — all  that  they 
have  gone  through.  It  has  made  them  brave,  made 
them  sober,  made  them  patient.  It  has  given  them 

“ The  reason  firm,  the  temperate  will, 

Endurance,  foresight,  strength  and  skill ; ” 

and  so  has  shaped  them  into  the  likeness  of  Christ, 
who  was  made  perfect  through  suffering ; and  though 
he  were  a Son,  yet  in  the  days  of  his  flesh,  made  strong 
supplication,  and  cryed  with  tears  to  his  father,  and 
was  heard  in  that  he  feared  ; and  so,  though  he  died 
on  the  cross  and  descended  into  hell,  yet  triumphed 
over  death  and  hell,  by  dying  and  by  descending ; and 
conquered  them  by  submitting  to  them. 

XXXVIII. 

To  feel  for  all,  and  feel  with  all ; to  rejoice  with 


LIVING  TRUTHS. 


56 

those  who  rejoice,  and  weep  with  those  who  weep; 
to  understand  people’s  trials,  and  make  allowances 
for  their  temptations  ; to  put  one’s  self  in  their  place, 
till  we  see  with  their  eyes,  and  feel  with  their  hearts, 
till  we  judge  no  man,  and  have  hope  for  all  ; to  be 
fair  and  patient  and  tender  with  every  one  we  meet ; 
to  despise  no  one,  to  despair  of  none  ; to  look  upon 
every  one  we  meet  with  love,  almost  with  pity,  as 
people  who  either  have  been  down  into  the  deep  of 
horror,  or  may  go  down  into  it  any  day  ; to  see  our 
own  sins  in  other  people’s  sins,  and  know  that  we 
might  do  what  they  do,  and  feel  as  they  feel,  any 
moment,  did  God  desert  us ; to  give  and  forgive,  to 
live  and  let  live,  even  as  Christ  gives  to  us  and 
forgives  us,  and  lives  for  us,  and  lets  us  live,  in  spite 
of  all  our  sins  — this  is  the  character  we  may  get 
w out  of  the  depths.” 


XXXIX. 

By  suffering  Christ  was  made  perfect;  and  what 
was  the  best  path  for  Jesus  Christ  is  surely  good 
enough  for  us,  even  though  it  be  a rough  and  a thorny 
one.  Let  us  lie  still  beneath  God’s  hand ; for  though 
his  hand  be  heavy  upon  us,  it  is  strong  and  safe 
beneath  us  too;  and  none  can  pluck  us  out  of  his 
hand,  for  in  him  we  live  and  move  and  have  our 
being ; and  though  we  go  down  into  the  depths 


DISCIPLINE. 


57 


with  David,  with  David  we  shall  find  God  there, 
and  find,  with  David,  that  “ He  will  not  leave  our 

souls  in  hell,  or  suffer  his  holy  ones  to  see  cor- 

ruption.Yes;  have  faith  in  God.  Nothing  in 
thee  which  he  has  made  shall  see  corruption;  for 
it  is  a thought  of  God’s,  and  no  thought  of  his 
can  perish.  Nothing  shall  be  purged  out  of  thee 
but  thy  disease ; nothing  shall  be  burnt  out  of 
thee  but  thy  dross ; and  that  in  thee  shall  be 

saved,  and  live  to  all  eternity,  of  which  God  said 
at  the  beginning,  “ Let  us  make  man  in  our  own 
image.”  Yes;  have  faith  in  God;  and  say  to 
him  once  for  all,  “ Though  Thou  slay  me,  yet 

will  I love  Thee;  for  Thou  lovedst  me  in  Jesus 
Christ  before  the  foundation  of  the  world.” 


XL. 

\ 

Do  not  be  astonished,  do  not  be  disheartened, 
if,  when  a great  sorrow  comes  to  you,  there  comes 
with  it  a struggle  too  deep  for  words;  if  you  find 
out  that  fine  words  and  set  prayers  are  nothing  in 
your  hour  of  need,  and  that  you  will  not  be  heard 
for  your  much  speaking.  Ah ! the  darkness  of  that 
time  which  perhaps  goes  on  for  days,  for  months, 
all  alone  between  you  and  God  himself.  Clergymen 
and  good  people  may  come  in  with  kind  words  and 
true  words,  but  they  give  no  comfort ; your  heart 


5^ 


LIVING  TRUTHS. 


is  still  dark,  still  full  of  doubt ; you  want  God  him* 
self  to  speak  to  your  heart,  and  tell  you  that  he 
is  love.  And  you  have  no  words  to  pray  with  at 
last;  you  have  used  them  all  up;  and  you  can 
only  cling  humbly  to  God,  and  hold  fast.  One 
moment  you  feel  like  a poor  slave  clinging  to  his 
stern  master’s  arm,  and  entreating  him  not  to  kill 
him  outright.  The  next  you  feel  like  a child 
clinging  to  his  father,  and  entreating  him  to  save 
him  from  some  horrible  monster  which  is  going  to 
devour  it ; but  you  have  no  words  to  pray  with,  only 
sighs,  and  tears,  and  groans  ; you  feel  that  you  know 
not  what  to  pray  for  as  you  ought ; know  not 
what  is  good  for  you ; dare  ask  for  nothing,  lest 
it  should  be  the  wrong  thing.  And  the  longer 
you  struggle,  the  weaker  you  become,  as  Jacob 
did,  till  your  very  bones  seem  out  of  joint,  your 
very  heart  broken  within  you,  and  life  seems  not 
worth  having,  or  death  either. 

Only  hold  fast  by  God.  Only  do  not  despair. 
Only  be  sure  that  God  cannot  lie;  be  sure  that  he 
who  cared  for  you  from  your  birth  hour  cares  for 
you  still ; that  he  who  loved  you  enough  to  give 
his  own  Son  for  you  hundreds  of  years  before  you 
were  born,  cannot  but  love  you  still ; do  not 
despair,  I say ; and  at  last,  when  you  are  fallen  so 
low  that  you  can  fall  no  lower,  and  so  weak  that 
you  are  past  struggling,  you  may  hear  through  the 


DISCIPLINE . 


59 


darkness  of  your  heart  the  still  small  voice  of  God. 
Only  hold  fast,  and  let  him  not  go  until  he  bless 
you,  and  you  shall  find  with  Jacob  of  old,  that  as 
a prince  you  have  power  with  God  and  with  man, 
and  have  prevailed. 

And  so  God  will  answer  you  as  he  answered 
Elijah,  at  first  out  of  the  whirlwind  and  the  blind- 
ing storm ; but  at  last,  doubt  it  not,  with  the  still 
small  voice  which  cannot  be  mistaken,  which  no 
earthly  ear  can  hear,  but  which  is  more  precious 
to  the  broken  heart  than  all  which  this  world  gives, 
the  peace  which  passes  understanding,  and  yet  is  the 
surest  and  the  only  lasting  peace. 

XLI. 

The  Bible  tells  us  “ that  God  tempts  no  man ; that 
he  does  not  afflict  willingly,  nor  grieve  the  children 
of  men.”  The  Bible  speaks  at  times  as  if  these 
dark  troubles  came  from  the  devil  himself,  and  as 
if  God  turned  them  into  good  for  us  by  making 
them  part  of  our  training,  part  of  our  education ; 
and  so  making  some  devil’s  attempt  to  ruin  us 
only  a great  means  of  our  improvement.  I do  not 
know : but  this  I do  know,  the  troubles  are  here, 
and  God  is  love.  At  least  this  is  comfortable,  that 
God  will  let  no  man  be  tempted  beyond  what  he  is 
able ; but  will  with  the  temptation  make  a way  for 


6o 


LIVING  TRUTHS. 


us  to  escape,  that  we  may  be  able  to  bear  it.  At 
least  this  is  comfortable,  that  our  prayers  are  not 
needed  to  change  God’s  will,  because  his  will  is 
already  that  we  should  be  saved ; because  we  are 
on  his  side  in  the  battle  against  the  devil,  or  the 
flesh,  or  the  world,  or  whatever  it  is  which  makes 
poor  souls  and  bodies  miserable,  and  he  on  ours ; 
and  all  we  have  to  do  in  our  prayers  is  to  ask 
advice  and  orders  and  strength  and  courage  from 
the  great  Captain  of  our  salvation ; that  we  may 
fight  his  battle  and  ours  aright  and  to  the  end. 
And  if  you  be  in  trouble,  if  your  heart  be  brought 
low  within  you,  remember,  only  remember,  who  the 
Captain  of  our  salvation  is.  Who  but  Jesus  who 
died  on  the  cross  — Jesus  who  was  made  perfect 
by  sufferings,  Jesus  who  cried  out,  “ My  God!  my 
God ! why  hast  thou  forsaken  me?”  ' 

XLII. 

No  cloud  across  the  sun 
But  passes  at  the  last,  and  gives  us  back 
The  face  of  God  once  more. 

XLIII. 

If  Christ  had  to  be  made  perfect  by  sufferings, 
much  more  must  we.  If  he  needed  to  learn  obedi- 


DISCIPLINE . 


61 


ence  by  sorrow,  much  more  must  we.  If  in  the 
days  of  his  flesh,  he  needed  to  make  supplication 
to  God  his  Father  with  strong  crying  and  tears, 
so  do  we.  And  if  he  was  heard  in  that  he 
feared,  so,  I trust,  we  shall  be  heard  likewise.  If 
he  needed  to  taste  even  the  most  horrible  misery 
of  all ; to  feel  for  a moment  that  God  had  forsaken 
him;  surely  we  must  expect,  if  we  are  to  be  made 
like  him,  to  have  to  drink  at  least  one  drop  out 
of  his  cup.  It  is  very  wonderful : but  yet  it  is 

full  of  hope  and  comfort.  Full  of  hope  and  com- 
fort to  be  able,  in  our  darkest  and  bitterest  sorrow, 
to  look  up  to  Heaven,  and  say,  at  least  there  is 
one  who  has  been  through  all  this.  As  Christ  was, 
so  are  we  in  this  world;  and  the  disciple  cannot 
be  above  his  master.  Yes,  we  are  in  this  world 
as  he  was,  and  he  was  once  in  this  world  as  we 
are.  He  has  been  through  all  this,  and  more. 
He  knows  all  this  and  more.  “We  have  a High 
Priest  above  us  who  can  be  touched  with  the 
feeling  of  our  infirmities,  because  he  has  been 
tempted  in  all  things  like  as  we  are,  yet  without 
sin.” 


XLIV. 


Are  you  tormented  as  Job  was,  over  and  above  all 
your  sorrows,  by  mistaken  kindness,  and  comforters  in 


62 


LIVING  TRUTHS . 


whom  is  no  comfort ; who  break  the  bruised  reed 
and  quench  the  smoking  flax;  who  tell  you  that 
you  must  be  wicked,  and  God  must  be  angry  with 
you,  or  all  this  would  not  have  come  upon 
you?  Job’s  comforters  did  so,  and  spoke  very 
righteous-sounding  words,  and  took  great  pains  to 
justify  God  and  to  break  poor  Job’s  heart,  and 
made  him  say  many  wild  and  foolish  words  in  an- 
swer, for  which  he  was  sorry  afterwards;  but  after 
all,  the  Lord’s  answer  was,  “ My  wrath  is  kindled 
against  you  three,  for  you  have  not  spoken  of  me 
the  thing  which  was  right,  as  my  servant  Job 
hath.  Therefore  my  servant  Job  shall  pray  for  you, 
for  him  will  I accept;”  as  he  will  accept  every 
humble  and  contrite  soul  who  clings,  amid  all  its 
doubts,  and  fears,  and  sorrows,  to  the  faith  that 
God  is  just  and  not  unjust,  merciful  and  not  cruel, 
condescending  and  not  proud  — that  his  will  is  a 
good  will,  and  not  a bad  will  — that  he  hateth 
nothing  that  he  hath  made,  and  willeth  the  death 
of  no  man ; and  in  that  faith  casts  itself  down 
like  Job,  in  dust  and  ashes  before  the  majesty  of 
God,  content  not  to  understand  his  ways  and 
its  own  sorrows;  but  simply  submitting  itself 
and  resigning  itself  to  the  good  will  of  that 
God,  who  so  loved  the  world  that  he  spared 
not  his  only  begotten  Son,  but  freely  gave  him 
for  us. 


DISCIPLINE. 


63 


XLV. 

It  chanced  upon  the  merry,  merry  Christmas  eve, 

I went  sighing  past  the  church,  across  the  moor- 
land dreary  * — 

“Oh!  never  sin  and  want  and  woe  this  earth  will  leave, 

And  the  bells  but  mock  the  wailing  round  they 
sing  so  cheery. 

How  long,  O Lord!  how  long  before  Thou  come 
again  ? 

Still  in  cellar,  and  in  garret,  and  on  moorland  dreary, 

The  orphans  moan,  and  widows  weep,  and  poor  men 
toil  in  vain, 

Till  the  earth  is  sick  of  hope  deferred,  though 
Christmas  bells  be  cheery.” 

Then  arose  a joyous  clamor  from  the  wild  fowl  on 
the  mere, 

Beneath  the  stars,  across  the  snow,  like  clear 
bells  ringing, 

And  a voice  within  cried  — “ Listen  ! — Christmas 
carols  even  here ! 

Though  thou  be  dumb,  yet  o’er  their  work  the 
stars  and  snows  are  singing. 

Blind!  I love,  I love,  I reign;  and  all  the  nations 
through 

With  the  thunder  of  my  judgments  even  now  are 
ringing; 


64 


LIVING  TRUTHS . 


Do  thou  fulfil  thy  work,  but  as  yon  wild  fowl  do, 

Thou  wilt  heed  no  less  the  wailing,  yet  hear 
through  it  angels’  singing.” 

XLVI. 

Well  spoke  the  old  monks,  peaceful  watching  life’s 
turmoil, 

“ Eyes  which  look  heavenward,  weeping  still  we  see : 
God’s  love  with  keen  flame  purges,  like  the  light- 
ning flash, 

Gold  which  is  purest,  purer  still  must  be.” 
XLVII. 

Happy  for  every  man  that  the  battle  between  the 
spirit  and  the  flesh  should  begin  in  him  again  and 
again,  as  long  as  his  flesh  is  not  subdued  to  his 
spirit.  If  he  be  wrong,  the  greatest  blessing  which 
can  happen  to  him  is,  that  he  should  find  him- 
self in  the  wrong.  If  he  have  been  deceiving 
himself,  the  greatest  blessing  is,  that  God . should 
anoint  his  eyes  that  he  may  see  — see  himself  as 
he  is ; see  his  own  inbred  corruption  ; see  the  sin 
which  doth  so  easily  beset  him,  whatever  it  may 
be.  Whatever  anguish  of  mind  it  may  cost  him, 
it  is  a light  price  to  pay  for  the  inestimable 
treasure  which  true  repentance  and  amendment 
brings ; the  fine  gold  of  solid  self-knowledge,  tried 


SIN 


6S 


in  the  fire  of  bitter  experience  ; the  white  raiment 
of  a pure  and  simple  heart;  the  eye-salve  of  hon- 
est self-condemnation  and  noble  shame.  If  he  have 
but  these — and  these  God  will  give  him,  in 
answer  to  prayer,  the  prayer  of  a broken  and 
contrite  heart  — then  he  will  be  able  to  carry  on 
the  battle  against  the  corrupt  flesh,  with  its  affec- 
tions and  lusts,  in  hope.  In  the  assured  hope  of 
final  victory.  “ For  greater  is  he  that  is  with  us 
than  he  that  is  against  us.”  He  that  is  against 
us  is  our  self,  our  selfish  self,  our  animal  nature ; 
and  he  that  is  with  us  is  God ; God  and  none 
other : and  who  can  pluck  us  out  of  his  hand  ? 

XLVIII. 

How  shall  we  conquer  temptations  to  laziness, 
selfishness,  heartlessness  ? By  faith  in  God  as  the 
eternal  enemy  of  evil,  the  eternal  helper  of  those 
who  try  to  overcome  evil  with  good ; the  eternal 
avenger  of  all  the  wrong  which  is  done  on  earth. 
By  faith  in  God,  as  not  only  our  Father,  our 
Saviour,  our  Redeemer,  our  Protector,  but  the 
Father,  Saviour,  Redeemer,  Protector,  and,  if  need 
be,  Avenger  of  every  human  being.  By  faith 
in  God,  which  believes  that  his  infinite  heart 
yearns  over  every  human  soul,  even  the  basest  and 
the  worst ; that  He  wills  that  not  one  little  one 


66 


LIVING  TRUTHS. 


should  perish,  but  that  all  should  be  saved,  and 
come  to  the  knowledge  of  the  truth. 

XLIX. 

If,  in  spite  of  many  bad  habits,  we  desire  to  get 
rid  of  our  bad  habits ; if,  in  spite  of  many  faults 
we  still  desire  to  be  faultless  and  perfect ; if,  in 
spite  of  many  weaknesses  we  still  desire  to  be 
strong ; if,  in  one  word,  we  still  hunger  and  thirst 
after  righteousness,  and  long  to  be  good  men,  then 
in  due  time  the  love  of  God  will  be  shed  abroad 
in  our  hearts  by  the  Holy  Spirit. 

For  that  will  happen  to  us  which  happens  to  all 
those  who  have  the  pure,  true,  heroical  love.  If 
we  really  love  a person  we  shall  first  desire  to 

please  them,  and  therefore  the  thought  of  disobey- 
ing and  paining  them  will  seem  more  and  more 
grievous  unto  us. 

But  more.  We  shall  soon  rise  a step  higher. 
The  more  we  love  them,  and  the  more  we  see  in 

them,  in  their  characters,  things  worthy  to  be  loved, 
the  more  we  shall  desire  to  be  like  them,  to  copy 

those  parts  of  their  character  which  most  delight 
us ; and  we  shall  copy  them,  though  insensibly, 

perhaps,  and  unawares. 

For  no  one  can  look  up  for  t any  length  of  time 
with  love  and  respect  towards  a person  better, 


SIN. 


6 7 


wiser,  greater  than  themselves,  without  becoming 
more  or  less  like  that  person  in  character  and  in 
habit  of  thought  and  feeling , and  so  will  it  be 
with  us  towards  God. 

If  we  really  long  to  be  good,  it  will  grow  more 
and  more  easy  to  us  to  love  God.  The  more  pure 
our  hearts  are,  the  more  pleasant  the  thought  of 
God  will  be  to  us ; even  as  it  is  said,  “ Blessed 
are  the  pure  in  heart,  for  they  shall  see  God,”  — 
in  this  life  as  well  as  in  the  life  to  come.  We 
shall  not  shrink  from  God,  because  we  shall  know 
that  we  are  not  willfully  offending  him. 


L. 


I know  it  is  sometimes  said,  “The  greater  the 
sinner,  the  greater  the  saint.”  I do  not  believe  that, 
because  I do  not  see  it.  I see,  and  I thank  God 
for  it,  that  men  who  have  been  very  wrong  at  one 
time,  come  very  right  afterwards  ; that  having  found 
out  in  earnest  that  the  wages  of  sin  are  death,  they 
do  repent  in  earnest  and  receive  the  gift  of  eternal 
life  through  Jesus  Christ.  But  I see,  too,  that  the 
bad  habits,  bad  passions,  bad  methods  of  thought, 
which  they  have  indulged  in  youth,  remain  more  or 
less,  and  make  them  worse  men,  sillier  men,  less 
useful  men,  less  happy  men,  sometimes  to  their 
lives’  ends,  and  they,  if  they  be  true  Christians, 


68 


LIVING  TRUTHS. 


know  it  and  repent  of  their  early  sins,  not  once  for 
all  only,  but  all  their  lives  long,  because  they  feel 
that  they  have  weakened  and  made  themselves  worse 
thereby. 

It  stands  to  reason,  my  friends,  that  it  should  be 
so.  If  a man  losses  his  way  and  finds  it  again,  he 
is  so  much  the  less  forward  on  his  way,  surely,  by 
all  the  time  he  has  spent  in  getting  back  into  the 
road. 

If  a child  has  a violent  illness  it  stops  growing, 
because  the  life  and  nourishment  which  ought  to 
have  gone  towards  its  growth,  are  spent  in  curing 
its  disease.  And  so,  if  a man  has  indulged  in  bad 
habits  in  his  youth,  he  is  but  too  likely  (let  him  do 
what  he  will)  to  be  a less  good  man  for  it  to  his  life’s 
end,  because  the  Spirit  of  God  which  ought  to  have 
been  making  him  grow  in  grace,  freely  and  healthily, 
to  the  stature  of  a perfect  man,  to  the  fullness  of 
the  measure  of  Christ,  is  striving  to  conquer  old 
bad  habits,  and  cure  old  diseases  of  character ; and 
the  man,  even  though  he  does  enter  into  life,  enters 
into  it  halt  and  maimed,  and  the  wages  of  his  sin 
have  been,  as  they  always  will  be,  death  to  some 
powers,  some  faculties  of  his  soul. 

LI. 


Physicians  who  see  children  born  diseased,  bom 


SIM 


69 


stupid,  or  even  idiotic,  born  thwart-natured,  or  pas- 
sionate, or  false,  or  dishonest,  or  brutal,  they  know 
well  what  original  sin  means,  though  they  call  it  by 
their  own  name  of  hereditary  tendencies.  And 
they  know,  too,  how  the  sins  of  a parent,  or  of  a 
grand  parent,  or  even  a great-grand  parent,  are 
visited  on  the  children  to  the  third  and  fourth  gen- 
eration, and  they  say,  “ It  is  a law  of  nature  ; ” and 
so  it  is.  But  the  laws  of  nature  are  the  laws  of  God 
who  made  her ; and  his  law  is  the  same  law  by 
which  death  reigns  even  over  those  who  have  not 
sinned  after  the  likeness  of  Adam  ; the  law  by  which 
(even  though  if  Christ  be  in  us,  the  spirit  is  life, 
because  of  righteousness)  the  body,  nevertheless,  is 
dead  because  of  sin. 


LII. 

Eternal  life  is  the  gift  of  God  through  Jesus  Christ. 
Freely  he  forgives  you  all  your  past  sins  for  the  sake 
of  that  precious  blood  which  was  shed  on  the  cross 
for  the  sins  of  the  whole  world.  Freely  he  takes 
you  back  as  his  child  to  your  father’s  house.  Freely 
he  gives  you  his  holy  spirit,  the  spirit  of  goodness, 
tl  e spirit  of  life,  to  put  into  your  mind  good  desires, 
and  enable  you  to  bring  those  desires  to  good 
effec",  that  you  may  live  the  eternal  life  of  grace 
and  goodness  forever  whether  in  earth  or  heaven. 


7° 


LIVING  TRUTHS. 


Yes,  it  is  the  gift  of  God,  which  raises  you  from 
the  death  of  sin  to  the  life  of  righteousness ; and 
if  you  have  that  gift,  you  will  not  murmur,  surely 
though  you  have  to  bear  more  or  less,  the  just  and 
natural  consequences  of  your  former  sins ; though 
you  be,  through  your  own  guilt,  a sadder  man  to 
your  dying  day. 

Be  content.  You  are  forgiven.  You  are  cleansed 
from  your  sin.  Is  not  that  mercy  enough  ? Why 
are  you  to  demand  of  God  that  he  should  over  and 
above  cleanse  you  from  the  consequences  of  your 
sin?  He  may  leave  them  there  to  trouble  and  sad- 
den you,  just  because  he  loves  you  and  desires  to 
chasten  you  and  keep  you  in  mind  of  what  you 
were,  and  what  you  would  be  again,  at  any  moment, 
if  his  spirit  left  you  to  yourself.  You  may  have 
to  enter  into  life  halt  and  maimed,  yet  be  content. 
You  have  a thousand  more  things  than  you  deserve, 
for  at  least  you  enter  into  life. 

A man  may  be  proud  of  confessing  his  sins ; 
may  become  self-righteous  and  conceited,  accord- 
ing to  the  number  of  sins  which  he  confesses. 

So  deceitful  is  this  human  heart  of  ours,  that  I 
have  seen  people  quite  proud  of  calling  themselves 
miserable  sinners.  I say,  proud  of  it.  For  if  they 
had  really  felt  themselves  miserable  sinners,  they 
would  have  said  less  about  their  own  feelings.  If 
a man  really  feels  what  sin  is ; if  he  feels  what  a 


miserable,  pitiful,  mean  thing  it  is  to  be  doing 
wrong  when  one  knows  better,  to  be  the  slave  of 
one’s  own  tempers,  passions,  appetites  — oh,  if 
man  or  woman  ever  knew  the  exceeding  sinful- 
ness of  sin  he  would  hide  his  own  shame  in  the 
depths  of  his  heart,  and  tell  it  to  God  alone,  or  at 
most  to  none  on  earth  save  the  holiest,  the  wisest, 
the  trustiest,  the  nearest  and  the  dearest. 

But  when  one  hears  a man  always  talking  about 
his  own  sinfulness,  one  suspects  — and  from  experi- 
ence one  has  only  too  much  reason  to  suspect  — 
that  he  is  simply  saying  in  a civil  way,  “ I am  a 
better  man  than  you ; for  I talk  about  my  sinful- 
ness, and  you  do  not.” 

LI  II. 

For  the  sake  of  Jesus  the  lamb  slain  from  the 
foundation  of  the  world,  there  is  full,  free  and  per- 
fect forgiveness  for  every  sin  when  we  give  it  up. 
As  soon  as  a man  turns  round,  and,  instead  of  doing 
wrong,  tries  to  do  right,  he  need  be  under  no  man- 
ner of  fear  or  terror  any  more.  He  is  taken 
back  into  his  father’s  house  as  freely  and 

graciously  as  the  prodigal  son  in  the  parable 
was.  Whatsoever  dark  score  there  was  against 
him  in  God’s  books  is  wiped  out  there  and 
then,  and  he  starts  clear,  a new  man,  with  a fresh 


72 


LIVING  TRUTHS. 


chance  of  life.  And  whoever  tells  him  that  the 
score  is  not  wiped  out,  lies,  and  contradicts  flatly 
God’s  holy  word.  But  as  long  as  a man  does  not 
give  up  his  sins  the  dark  score  does  stand  against 
him  in  God’s  books ; and  no  praying,  or  reading, 
or  devoutness  of  any  kind  will  wipe  it  out ; and  as 
long  as  he  sins  he  is  still  in  his  sins,  and  his  sins 
will  be  his  ruins.  Whosoever  tells  him  that  they 
are  wiped  out,  he  too,  lies,  and  contradicts  flatly 
God’s  holy  word. 

For  God  is  just  and  true  ; and  therefore  God 
takes  us  for  what  we  are,  and  will  do  so  to  all 
eternity.  In  spite  of  all  doctrines  which  men  have 
invented,  and  then  pretended  to  find  in  the  Bible, 
to  drug  men’s  consciences,  and  confuse  God’s  clear 
light  in  their  hearts,  you  will  find,  now  and  for 
ever,  that  if  you  do  right  you  will  be  happy 
even  in  the  midst  of  sorrow;  if  you  do  wrong,  you 
will  be  miserable  even  in  the  midst  of  pleasure.  Do 
not  rashly  count  on  some  sudden  magical  change 
happening  to  you  as  soon  as  you  die  to  make  you 
fit  for  heaven.  There  is  not  one  word  in  the  Bible 
which  gives  us  reason  to  suppose  that  we  shall  not 
be  in  the  next  world  the  same  persons  which  we 
have  made  ourselves  in  this  world.  If  we  are 
unjust  here,  we  shall,  for  aught  we  know,  or  can 
know,  try  to  be  unjust  there;  if  we  are  proud  here, 
we  shall  be  so  there ; if  we  are  selfish  here,  we 


SIN 


73 


shall  be  so  there.  What  we  sow  here,  we  shall 
reap  there.  And  it  is  good  for  us  to  know  this 
and  face  this.  Any  thing  is  good  for  us,  how- 
ever unpleasant  it  may  be,  which  drives  us  from  the 
only  real  misery  which  is  sin  and  selfishness,  to  the 
only  true  happiness  which  is  the  everlasting  life 
of  Christ ; a pure,  loving,  just,  generous,  useful 
life  of  goodness,  which  is  the  righteousness  of 
Christ,  and  the  glory  of  Christ,  and  which  will  be 
our  righteousness  and  our  glory  also  forever. 

LIV. 

Sin  is,  to  be  at  war  with  God,  who  is  love  and  peace  ; 
and  therefore  to  be  in  lovelessness,  hatred,  war,  and 
misery.  Sin  is,  to  act  contrary  to  the  constitution 
which  God  gave  man  when  he  said,  “ Let  us  make  man 
in  our  image,  after  our  likeness  ; ” and  therefore  sin  is 
a disease  in  human  nature,  and  like  all  other  diseases, 
must,  unless  it  is  checked,  go  on  everlastingly  and  per- 
petually breeding  weakness,  pain  and  torment.  And  out 
of  that  God  is  so  desirous  to  raise  you,  that  he  spared 
not  his  only  begotten  Son,  but  freely  gave  him  for  you, 
if  by  any  means  he  might  raise  you  out  of  that  death 
of  sin  to  the  life  of  righteousness  — to  a righteous  life  ; 
to  a life  of  duty  — to  a dutiful  life  like  his  Son  Jesus 
Christ’s  life  ; for  that  must  go  on,  if  you  go  on  in  it, 
producing  in  you  everlastingly  and  perpetually  all 


74 


LIVING  TRUTHS. 


health  and  strength,  usefulness  and  happiness  in  this 
world  and  all  worlds  to  come. 

LV. 

Love  is  of  God,  and  every  one  that  loveth  is  born 
of  God,  and  knoweth  God.  He  that  loveth  not, 
knoweth  not  God ; for  God  is  love.  Still  less  can  he 
who  is  not  loving  fulfil  the  law ; for  the  law  of  God  is 
the  very  pattern  and  picture  of  God’s  character ; and 
if  a man  does  not  know  what  God  is  like,  he  will  never 
know  what  God’s  law  is  like ; and  though  he  may  read 
his  Bible  all  day  long,  he  will  learn  no  more  from  it 
than  a dumb  animal  will,  unless  his  heart  is  full  of  love. 
For  love  is  the  light  by  which  we  see  God,  by  which 
we  understand  his  Bible  ; by  which  we  understand  our 
duty,  and  God’s  dealings  in  the  world.  Love  is  the 
light  by  which  we  understand  our  own  hearts,  by  which 
we  understand  our  neighbors’  hearts.  So  it  is.  If  you 
hate  any  man,  or  have  a spite  against  him,  you  will 
never  know  what  is  in  that  man’s  heart ; never  be  able 
to  form  a just  opinion  of  his  character.  If  you  want 
to  understand  human  beings,  or  to  do  justice  to  their 
feelings,  you  must  begin  by  loving  them  heartily  and 
freely;  and  the  more  you  like  them  the  better  you  will 
understand  them ; and  in  general  the  better  you  will 
find  them  to  be  at  heart,  the  more  worthy  of  your  trust, 
at  least  the  more  worthy  of  your  compassion. 


LOVE. 


75 


LVI. 

What  does  half  the  misery,  and  all  the  quarrelling  in 
the  world  come  from,  but  from  people’s  loving  them- 
selves better  than  their  neighbors  ? Would  children 
be  disobedient,  and  neglectful  to  their  parents,  if  they 
did  not  love  themselves  better  than  their  parents  ? 
Why  does  a man  kill,  commit  adultery,  steal,  bear  false 
witness,  covet  his  neighbor’s  goods,  his  neighbor’s 
custom,  his  neighbor’s  rights,  but  because  he  loves 
his  own  pleasure  or  interest  better  than  his  neigh- 
bor’s ; loves  himself  better  than  the  man  whom  he 
wrongs  ? Would  a man  take  advantage  of  his 
neighbor  if  he  loved  him  as  well  as  himself  ? 
Would  he  be  hard  on  his  neighbor,  and  say,  “ Pay 
me  to  the  uttermost  farthing,”  if  he  loved  him 
as  he  loves  himself  ? Would  he  speak  evil  of  his 
neighbor  behind  his  back,  if  he  loved  him  as  himself  ? 
Would  he  cross  his  neighbor’s  temper,  just  because  he 
will  have  his  own  way,  right  or  wrong,  if  he  loved  him 
as  himself?  Judge  for  yourselves.  What  would  the 
world  become  like  this  moment  if  every  man  loved  his 
neighbor  as  himself,  thought  of  his  neighbor  as  much 
as  he  thinks  of  himself  ? Would  it  not  become  heaven 
on  earth  at  once  ? There  would  be  no  need  then  for 
soldiers  and  policemen,  lawyers,  rates  and  taxes, 
and  all  the  expensive  and  heavy  machinery  which  is 
now  needed  to  force  people  into  keeping  something  of 


76 


LIVING  TRUTHS. 


God’s  law.  Ay,  there  would  be  no  need  of  sermons, 
preachers  and  prophets  to  tell  men  of  God’s  law,  and 
warn  them  of  the  misery  of  breaking  it.  They  would 
keep  the  law  of  their  own  free-will  by  love.  For  love 
is  the  fulfilling  of  the  law  ; and  as  St.  Augustine  says, 
‘‘Love  your  neighbor,  and  then  do  what  you  will  — 
because  you  will  be  sure  to  will  what  is  right.”  So 
truly  did  our  Lord  say,  that  on  this  one  commandment 
hung  all  the  law  and  the  prophets, 

LVII. 

I think  every  one  learns  to  love  his  neighbor, 
very  much  as  Moses  told  the  Jews  they  would 
learn  to  love  God ; namely,  by  trusting  them  some- 
what blindly  at  first. 

Is  it  not  so  ? Is  it  not  so  always  with  young 
people,  when  they  begin  to  be  fond  of  each  other  ? 
They  trust  each  other,  they  do  not  know  why  or 
how.  Before  they  are  married,  they  have  little  or 
no  experience  of  each  other ; of  each  other’s  tem- 
pers and  characters  ; and  yet  they  trust  each  other, 
and  say  in  their  hearts,  “ He  can  never  be  false 
to  me ! ” and  are  ready  to  put  their  honor  and 
fortunes  into  each  other’s  hands,  to  live  together 
for  better  for  worse,  till  death  them  part.  It  is  a 
blind  faith  in  each  other,  and  those  who  will  may 
laugh  at  it,  and  call  it  the  folly  and  rashness  of 


LOVE . 


77 


youth.  I do  not  believe  that  God  laughs  at  it; 
that  God  calls  it  folly  and  rashness.  It  surely  comes 
from  God. 

For  there  is  something  in  each  of  them  worth 
trusting,  worth  loving.  True,  they  may  be  disap- 
pointed in  each  other ; but  they  need  not  be.  If 
they  are  true  to  themselves ; if  they  will  listen  to 
the  better  voice  within,  and  be  true  to  their  own 
better  feelings,  all  will  be  well,  and  they  will  find 
after  marriage  that  they  did  not  do  a rash  and  a 
foolish  thing  when  they  gave  up  themselves  to 
each  other,  and  cast  in  their  lot  together  blindly 
to  live  and  die. 

And  then,  after  that  first  blind  faith  and  love 
in  each  other  which  they  had  before  marriage,  will 
come,  as  the  years  roll  by,  a deeper,  sounder  faith 
and  love  from  experience. 

LVIII. 

A young  person  setting  out  in  life,  has  little 
experience  of  God’s  love ; he  has  little  to  make 
him  sure  that  the  way  of  life,  and  honor,  and 
peace,  is  to  obey  God’s  laws.  But  he  is  told  so. 
His  Bible  tells  him  so.  Wiser  and  older  people 
than  he  tell  him  so,  and  God  himself  tells  him  so. 
God  himself  wakes  up  in  the  young  person’s  heart 
a desire  after  goodness. 


78 


LIVING  TRUTHS. 


Then  he  takes  it  for  granted  blindly.  He  says 
to  himself,  I can  but  try.  They  tell  me  to  taste 
and  see  whether  the  Lord  is  gracious.  I will  taste. 
They  tell  me  that  the  way  of  his  commandments 
is  the  way  to  make  life  worth  living  and  to  see 
good  days,  I will  try.  And  so  the  years  go  by. 
The  young  person  has  grown  middle-aged,  old. 
He  or  she  has  been  through  many  trials,  many 
disappointments ; perhaps  more  than  one  bitter  loss. 
But  if  they  have  held  fast  by  God ; if  they  have 
tried,  however  clumsily,  to  keep  God’s  law  and 
walk  in  God’s  way,  then  there  will  have  grown  up 
in  them  a trust  in  God,  and  a love  for  God 
deeper  and  broader  far  than  any  which  they  had 
in  youth  ; a love  grounded  on  experience.  They 
can  point  back  to  so  many  blessings  which  the 
Lord  gave  them  unexpectedly ; to  so  many  sorrows 
which  the  Lord  gave  them  strength  to  bear,  though 
they  seemed  at  first  sight  past  bearing;  to  so  many 
disappointments  which  seemed  ill-luck  at  the  time, 
and  yet  which  turned  out  good  for  them  in  the 
end.  And  so  comes  a deep,  reasonable  love  to  their 
Heavenly  Father.  Now  they  have  tasted  that  the 
Lord  is  gracious. 


LIX. 


Not  men,  not  saints,  not  angels,  or  archangels 


LOVE. 


79 


can  comprehend  the  love  of  Christ.  How  can 
they  ? For  Christ  is  God,  and  God  is  love ; the 
root  and  fountain  of  all  love  which  is  in  you  and 
me  and  angels  and  all  created  beings.  And  there- 
fore his  love  is  as  much  greater  than  ours,  or  than 
the  love  of  angels  and  archangels,  as  the  whole  sun 
is  greater  than  one  ray  of  sun-light.  Say,  rather, 
as  much  greater  and  more  glorious  as  the  sun  is 
greater  and  more  glorious  than  the  light  which 
sparkles  in  the  dewdrop  on  the  grass.  The  love 

and  goodness  and  holiness  of  a saint  or  an 

angel  is  the  light  in  that  dewdrop,  borrowed  from 
the  sun.  The  love  of  God  is  the  sun  himself, 

which  shineth  from  one  part  of  heaven  to'  the 
other,  and  there  is  nothing  hid  from  the  life-giving 
heat  and  light  thereof.  When  the  dewdrop  can 

take  in  the  sun,  then  can  we  take  in  the  love  of 
God,  which  fills  all  heaven  and  earth. 

LX. 

There  is  a beautiful  story  told  in  the  life  of  the 
blessed  apostle  St.  John.  A young  man  at  Ephesus 
who  had  become  a Christian,  and  of  whom  St.  John 
was  very  fond,  got  into  trouble  while  St.  John  was 
away,  and  had  to  flee  for  his  life  into  the  mount- 
ains. There  he  joined  a band  of  robbers,  and  was 
so  daring  and  desperate  that  they  soon  chose  him 


8o 


LIVING  TRUTHS. 


as  their  captain.  St.  John  came  back,  and  found 
the  poor  lad  had  gone.  St.  John  had  stood  at  the 
foot  of  the  cross  years  before,  and  heard  his  Lord 
pardon  the  penitent  thief ; and  he  knew  how  to 
deal  with  such  wild  souls.  And  what  did  he  do? 
Give  him  up  for  lost?  No!  He  set  off,  old  as 
he  was,  by  himself,  straight  for  the  mountains,  in 
spite  of  the  warnings  of  his  friends  that  he  would 
be  murdered,  and  that  this  young  man  was  the 
most  desperate  and  bloodthirsty  of  all  the  robbers. 
At  last  he  found  the  young  robber.  And  what  did 
the  robber  do?  As  soon  as  he  saw  St.  John 
coming — before  St.  John  could  speak  a word  to 
him  — he  turned,  and  ran  away  for  shame;  and  old 
St.  John  followed  him,  never  saying  a harsh  word 
to  him,  but  only  crying  after  him,  “ My  son,  my 
son,  come  back  to  your  father !”  and  at  last  he 
found  him,  where  he  was  hidden,  and  held  him  by 
his  clothes,  and  embraced  him,  and  pleaded  with 
him  so,  that  the  poor  fellow  burst  into  tears,  and 
let  St.  John  lead  him  away;  and  so  that  blessed 
St.  John  went  down  again  to  Ephesus  in  joy  and 
triumph,  bringing  his  lost  lamb  with  him. 

LXI. 

How  Christ’s  death  takes  away  thy  sins,  thou 
wilt  never  know,  on  earth — perhaps  not  in  heaven. 


SUCCESS . 


81 


It  is  a mystery  which  thou  must  believe  and  adore. 
But  why  he  died,  thou  canst  see  at  the  first 
glance — if  thou  hast  a human  heart,  and  wilt  look 
at  what  God  means  thee  to  look  at — Christ  upon 
his  cross.  He  died  because  he  was  love — love 
itself — love  boundless,  unconquerable,  unchangeable 
— love  which  inhabits  eternity,  and  therefore  could 
not  be  hardened  or  foiled  by  any  sin  or  rebellion 
of  man,  but  must  lave  men  still;  must  go  out  to 
seek  and  save  them;  must  dare,  suffer  any  misery, 
shame,  death  itself,  for  their  sake;  just  because  it 
is  absolute  and  perfect  love,  which  inhabits  eternity. 

LXII. 

How  easy  it  is  to  buy  the  love  of  men!  Gold 
will  not  do  it;  but  there  is  a little  angel,  or  may 
be,  in  the  corner  of  every  man's  eye,  who  is  worth 
more  than  gold,  and  can  do  it  free  of  all  charges; 
unless  a man  drives  him  out,  and  “ hates  his  brother.” 

LXIII. 

Of  all  men,  perhaps,  who  have  lived  in  our 
days,  the  most  truly  successful  was  the  great  Duke 
of  Wellington;  and  one  thing,  I believe,  which 
helped  him  most  to  become  great,  was  that  he 
was  so  wonderfully  free  from  vain  fretting  and 


82 


LIVING  TRUTHS. 


complaining,  free  from  useless  regrets  about  the 
past,  from  useless  anxieties  for  the  future.  Though 
he  had  for  years  on  his  shoulders  a responsibility 
which  might  have  well  broken  the  spirit  of  any 
man  ; though  the  lives  of  thousands  of  brave  men, 
and  the  welfare  of  great  kingdoms  — aye,  humanly 
speaking,  the  fate  of  all  Europe  — depended  on 
his  using  his  wisdom  in  the  right  place,  and  one 
mistake  might  have  brought  ruin  and  shame  on 
him  and  on  tens  of  thousands ; yet  no  one  ever 
saw  him  anxious,  confused,  or  terrified.  Though 
for  many  years  he  was  much  tried  and  hampered, 
and  unjustly  and  foolishly  kept  from  doing  his 
work  as  he  knew  it  ought  to  be  done,  yet  when 
the  time  came  for  work  his  head  was  always  clear, 
his  spirit  was  always  ready ; and  therefore  he  suc- 
ceeded in  the  most  marvellous  way.  Solomon  says 
“ Better  is  he  that  ruleth  his  spirit  than  he  that 
taketh  a city.”  Now  the  Great  Duke  had  learnt 
in  most  things  to  rule  his  spirit,  and  therefore  he 
was  able  not  only  to  take  cities  but  to  do  better 
still,  to  deliver  cities,  aye,  and  whole  countries, 
out  of  the  hand  of  armies  often  far  stronger, 
humanly  speaking,  than  his  own. 

And  for  an  example  of  what  I mean,  I will  tell 
you  a story  of  him  which  I know  to  be  true. 
Some  one  once  asked  him  what  his  secret  was  for 
winning  battles.  And  he  said  that  he  had  no 


SUCCESS . 


83 


secret ; that  he  did  not  know  how  to  win  battles, 
and  that  no  man  knew.  For  all,  he  said,  that 
man  could  do,  was  to  look  beforehand  steadily  at 
all  the  chances,  and  lay  all  possible  plans  before- 
hand : but  from  the  moment  the  battle  began,  he  said, 
no  mortal  prudence  was  of  use,  and  no  mortal  man 
could  know  what  the  end  would  be.  A thousand 
new  accidents  might  spring  up  every  hour,  and  scat- 
ter all  his  plans  to  the  winds ; and  all  that  man 
could  do  was  to  comfort  himself  with  the  thought 
that  he  had  done  his  best,  and  to  trust  in  God. 

LXIV. 

Be  not  fretful  and  anxious  about  the  morrow. 
Face  things  like  men  ; but  remember,  like  men, 
that  a fresh  chance  may  any  moment  spoil  all 
your  plans ; remember  that  there  are  a thousand 
dangers  round  you  from  which  your  prudence  can- 
not save  you.  Do  your  best;  and  then  comfort 
yourselves  with  the  thought  that  you  have  done  your 
best,  and  trust  in  God.  Remember  that  God  is 
really  and  in  very  truth  your  Father,  and  that 
without  him  not  a sparrow  falls  to  the  ground ; 
and  “are  ye  not  of  more  value  than  many  spar- 
rows, O ye  of  little  faith  ? ” Remember  that  he 
knows  what  you  have  need  of  before  you  ask  him  ; 
that  he  gives  you  all  day  long  of  his  own  free 


84 


LIVING  TRUTHS. 


generosity  a thousand  things  for  which  you  never 
dream  of  asking  him : and  believe  that  in  all  the 
chances  and  changes  of  this  life,  in  bad  luck  as 
well  as  in  good,  in  failure  as  well  as  success,  in 
poverty  as  well  as  wealth,  in  sickness  as  well  as 
health,  he  is  giving  you  and  me  and  all  mankind 
good  gifts  which  we  in  our  ignorance,  and  our 
natural  dread  of  what  is  unpleasant,  should  never 
dream  of  asking  him  for : but  which  are  good  for 
us  nevertheless.  Like  him  from  whom  they  come, 

the  Father  of  light,  from  whom  cometh  every  good 
and  perfect  gift ; who  is  neither  neglectful,  capri- 
cious, or  spiteful,  for  in  him  is  neither  variable- 
ness nor  shadow  of  turning,  but  who  is  always 
loving  unto  every  man,  and  his  mercy  is  over  all 
his  works. 

LXV. 

Do  to-day’s  duty;  fight  to-day’s  temptation;  and 
do  not  weaken  and  distract  yourself  by  looking 

forward  to  things  which  you  cannot  see,  and  could 
not  understand  if  you  saw  them.  Enough  for  yo  * 
that  your  Saviour  for  whom  you  fight  is  just  and 
merciful,  for  he  rewardeth  every  man  according  to 
his  work.  Enough  for  you  that  he  has  said  “He 
that  is  faithful  unto  death,  I will  give  him  a 

crown  of  life.”  Enough  for  you  that  if  you  be 


SUCCESS. 


85 


faithful  over  a few  things,  he  will  make  you  ruler 
over  many  things,  and  bring  you  into  his  joy  for- 
evermore. 


LXVI. 

Does  fretting  make  us  the  least  more  prudent? 
Does  anxiety  make  us  the  least  more  industrious  ? 
On  the  contrary,  I know  nothing  which  cripples  a 
man  more  and  hinders  him  working  manfully,  than 
anxiety.  Look  at  the  worst  case  of  all  — at  a man, 
who  is  melancholy,  and  fancies  that  all  is  going 
wrong  with  him,  and  that  he  must  be  ruined,  and 
has  a mind  full  of  all  sorts  of  dark,  hopeless 
fancies.  Does  he  work  any  the  more,  or  try  to 
escape  one  of  these  dangers  which  he  fancies  are 
hanging  over  him  ? So  far  from  it,  he  gives  him- 
self up  to  them  without  a struggle  ; he  sets  mop- 
ing, helpless  and  useless,  and  says,  “ There  is  no 
use  in  struggling.  If  it  will  come,  it  must  come.” 
He  has  lost  spirit  for  work,  and  lost  the  mind  for 
work  too.  His  mind  is  so  full  of  these  dark  fears 
that  he  cannot  turn  it  to  laying  any  prudent  plan 
to  escape  from  the  very  things  he  dreads. 

And  so,  in  a less  degree,  with  people  who  fret 
and  are  anxious.  They  may  be  in  a great  bustle, 
but  they  do  not  get  their  work  done.  They  run 
hither  and  thither,  trying  this  and  that,  but  leaving 


36 


LIVING  TRUTHS . 


every  thing  half  done,  to  fly  off  to  something  else. 
Or  else  they  spend  time  unprofitably  in  dreaming, 
and  expecting,  and  complaining,  which  might  be 
spent  profitably  in  working.  And  they  are  always 
apt  to  lose  their  heads,  and  their  tempers,  just 
when  they  need  them  most ; to  do  in  their  hurry 
the  very  last  thing  which  they  ought  to  have  done  ; 
to  try  so  many  roads  that  they  choose  the  wrong  road 
after  all,  from  mere  confusion,  and  run  with  open  eyes 
into  the  very  pit  which  they  have  been  afraid  of 
falling  into.  As  we  sometimes  say,  they  will  go 
all  through  the  wood  to  cut  a straight  stick,  and 
bring  out  a crooked  one  at  last.  Even  in  a mere 
worldly  way,  the  men  whom  I have  seen  succeed 
best  in  life  have  always  been  cheerful  and  hopeful 
men,  who  wrent  about  their  business  with  a smile 
on  their  faces,  and  took  the  changes  and  chances 
of  this  mortal  life  like  men,  facing  rough  and 
smooth  alike  as  it  came,  and  so  found  the  truth 
of  the  old  proverb,  that  “ good  times,  and  bad 
times,  and  all  times  pass  over.”  Nine-tenths  of  the 
mistakes  we  make  in  life  come  from  forgetting  the 
fear  of  God  and  the  law  of  God,  and  saying  not, 
I will  do  what  is  right,  but,  I will  do  what  will 
profit  me;  I will  do  what  I like.  If  we  would 
say  to  ourselves  manfully  all  our  lives  through,  I 
will  learn  the  will  of  God,  and  do  it,  whatever  it 
cost  me,  we  should  find  in  our  old  age  that  God’s 


TRUE  GREATNESS . 


87 


Holy  Spirit  was  indeed  a guide  and  a comforter, 
able  and  willing  to  lead  us  into  all  truth  which  was 
needful  for  us.  We  should  find  St.  Paul  had  spoken 
truth,  when  he  said  that  godliness  has  the  promise 
of  this  life,  as  well  as  that  which  is  to  come. 

LXVII. 

Does  it  not  seem  to  you  that  the  finest  thing 
in  a man  is  magnaminity  — what  we  call  in  plain 
English,  greatness  of  soul  ? And  if  it  does  seem 
to  you  to  be  so,  what  do  you  mean  by  greatness 
of  soul  ? When  you  speak  of  a great  soul,  and  of 
a great  man,  what  manner  of  man  do  you  mean  ? 

Do  you  mean  a very  clever  man,  a very  far- 
sighted man,  a very  determined  man,  a very  power- 
ful man,  and  therefore  a very  successful  man  ? A 
man  who  can  manage  every  thing,  and  every  person 
whom  he  comes  across,  and  turn  and  use  them 
for  his  own  ends,  till  he  rises  to  be  great  and 
glorious- — a ruler,  king,  or  what  you  will? 

Well,  he  is  a great  man:  but  I know  a greater, 
and  nobler,  and  more  glorious  stamp  of  man;  and 
you  do  also.  Let  us  try  again,  and  think  if  we 
can  find  his  likeness,  and  draw  it  for  ourselves. 
Would  he  not  be  somewhat  like  this  pattern?  A 
man  who  was  aware  that  he  had  vast  power,  and 
yet  used  that  power  not  for  himself,  but  for  others; 


88 


LIVING  TRUTHS. 


not  for  ambition,  but  for  doing  good  ? Surely  the 
man  who  used  his  power  for  other  people  would 
be  the  greater-souled  man,  would  he  not  ? Let  us 
go  on,  then,  to  find  out  more  of  his  likeness. 
Would  he  be  stern,  or  would  he  be  tender?  Would 
he  be  patient,  or  would  he  be  fretful  ? Would  he 
be  a man  who  stands  fiercely  on  his  own  rights, 
or  would  he  be  very  careful  of  other  men’s  rights, 
and  very  ready  to  waive  his  own  rights  gracefully 
and  generously  ? Would  he  be  extreme  to  mark 
what  was  done  amiss  against  him,  or  would  he  be 
very  patient  when  he  was  wronged  himself,  though 
indignant  enough  if  he  saw  others  wronged  ? 
Would  he  be  one  who  easily  lost  his  temper,  and 
lost  his  head,  and  could  be  thrown  off  his  balance 
by  one  foolish  man  ? Surely  not.  He  would  be  a 
man  whom  no  fool,  nor  all  fools  together  could 
throw  off  his  balance ; a man  who  could  not  lose 
his  temper,  could  not  lose  his  self-respect;  a man 
who  could  bear  with  those  who  are  peevish,  make 
allowances  for  those  who  are  weak  and  ignorant, 
forgive  those  who  are  insolent,  and  conquer  those 
who  are  ungrateful,  not  by  punishment,  but  by 
fresh  kindness,  overcoming  their  evil  by  his  good. 
A man,  in  short,  whom  no  ill  usage  without,  and 
no  ill  temper  within,  could  shake  out  of  his  even 
path  of  generosity  and  benevolence.  Is  not  that 
the  truly  magnanimous  man;  the  great  and  royal 


TRUE  GREATNESS. 


89 


soul  ? Is  not  that  the  stamp  of  man  whom  we 
should  admire,  if  we  meet  him  on  earth?  Should 
we  not  reverence  that  man ; esteem  it  an  honor 
and  a pleasure  to  work  under  that  man,  to  take 
him  for  our  teacher,  our  leader,  in  hopes  that,  by 
copying  his  example,  our  souls  might  become  great 
like  his  ? 

Is  it  so,  my  friends  ? Then  know  this,  that  in 
admiring  that  man,  you  admire  the  likeness  of  God. 
In  wishing  to  be  like  that  man,  you  wish  to  be 
like  God. 

For  this  is  God’s  true  greatness;  this  is  God’s 
true  glory;  this  is  God’s  true  royalty;  the  great- 
ness, glory,  and  royalty  of  loving,  forgiving,  gener- 
ous power,  which  pours  itself  out,  untiring  and 
undisgusted,  in  help  and  mercy  to  all  which  he  has 
made;  the  glory  of  a Father  who  is  perfect  in 
this,  that  he  causeth  his  rain  to  fall  on  the  evil 
and  on  the  good,  and  his  sun  to  shine  upon  the 

just  and  on  the  unjust,  and  is  good  to  the  un- 
thankful and  the  evil ; a Father  who  has  not  dealt 
with  us  after  our  sins,  or  rewarded  us  after  our 

iniquities:  a Father  who  is  not  extreme  to  mark 
what  is  done  amiss,  but  whom  it  is  worth  while  to 
fear,  for  with  him  is  mercy  and  plenteous  redemp- 
tion; all  this  and  more;  a Father  who  so  loved 

a world  which  had  forgotten  him,  a world  whose 
sins  must  have  been  disgusting  to  him,  that  he 


9° 


LIVING  TRUTHS . 


spared  not  his  only  begotten  Son,  but  freely  gave 
him  for  us,  and  will  with  him  freely  give  us  all 
things;  a Father,  in  one  word,  whose  name  and 
essence  is  love,  even  as  it  is  the  name  and  essence 
of  the  Son  and  of  the  Holy  Ghost. 

This,  my  friends,  is  the  glory  of  God : but  this 
glory  never  shone  out  in  its  full  splendor  till  it 
shone  upon  the  cross. 

LXVIII. 

To  give  up  our  lives  for  others  is  one  of  the 
most  beautiful,  and  noble,  and  glorious  things  on 
earth.  But  to  give  up  our  lives  willingly,  joyfully 
for  men  who  misunderstand  us,  hate  us,  despise 
us,  is,  if  possible,  a more  glorious  action  still,  and 
the  very  perfection  of  perfect  virtue.  Then,  look- 
ing at  Christ’s  cross,  we  see  that,  and  even  more 
— ay,  far  more  than  that.  The  cross  was  the  per- 
fect token  of  the  perfect  goodness  of  God,  and  of 
the  perfect  glory  of  God. 

LXIX. 

The  old  meaning,  the  true  meaning  of  a hero 
or  a heroine,  is  one  who  is  a son  or  daughter  of 
God,  and  whom  God  informs  and  strengthens,  and 
sends  out  to  do  noble  work,  teaching  them  the 


TRUE  GREATNESS. 


91 


way  wherein  they  should  go.  That  was  the 
right  meaning  of  a hero  and  heroine,  even  among 
the  old  heathens.  Let  it  mean  the  same  among 
us  Christians,  when  we  talk  of  a hero ; and  let  us 
give  God  the  glory,  and  say  — There  is  a man 
who  has  entered,  even  if  it  be  but  for  one  day’s 
danger  and  trial,  into  the  power  of  God’s  Spirit ; 
and  man  whom  God  has  informed  and  taught  in 
the  way  he  should  go,  may  that  same  God  give 
him  grace  to  abide  therein  all  the  days  of  his  life. 

LXX. 

* 

Oh  ! ’tis  easy 

To  beget  great  deeds  ; but  in  the  rearing  of  them  — 
The  threading  in  cool  blood  each  mean  detail, 

And  furze  brake  of  half-pertinent  circumstance  — 
There  lies  the  self-denial. 

LXXI. 

One  good  man, — one  man  who  does  not  put  his 
religion  on  once  a week  with  his  Sunday  coat,  but 
wears  it  for  his  working  dress,  and  lets  the  thought 
of  God  grow  into  him,  and  through  and  through 
him,  till  every  thing  he  says  and  does  becomes  re- 
ligious, that  man  is  worth  a thousand  sermons  — 
he  is  a living  gospel  — he  comes  in  the  spirit  and 


92 


LIVING  TRUTHS. 


power  of  Elias;  he  is  the  image  of  God.  And 
men  see  his  good  works,  and  admire  them  in  spite 
of  themselves,  and  see  that  they  are  godlike,  and 
that  God’s  grace  is  no  dream,  but  that  the  Holy 
Spirit  is  still  among  men,  and  that  all  nobleness  and 
manliness  is  his  gift,  his  stamp,  his  picture;  and  so 
they  get  a glimpse  of  God  again  in  his  saints  and 
heroes,  and  glorify  their  Father  who  is  in  heaven. 

LXXII. 

Have  you  not  seen  this  — I have,  thank  God,  full 
many  a time  — that  not  many  rich,  not  many 
mighty,  not  many  noble  are  called:  but  that  God’s 
strength  is  rather  made  perfect  in  man’s  weakness 
— that  in  foul  garrets,  in  lonely  sick-beds,  in  dark 
places  of  the  earth,  you  find  ignorant  people, 
sickly  people,  ugly  people,  stupid  people,  in  spite 
of,  in  defiance  of,  every  opposing  circumstance, 
leading  heroic  lives  — a blessing,  a comfort,  an  ex- 
ample, a very  Fount  of  Life  to  all  around  them;  and 
dying  heroic  deaths  because  they  have  Eternal  Life  ? 

LXXIII. 

Patience  is  the  truest  sign  of  courage.  Ask  old 
soldiers,  who  have  seen  real  war,  and  they  will 
tell  you  that  the  bravest  men,  the  men  who  en- 


TRUE  GREATNESS. 


93 


dured  best,  not  in  mere  fighting,  but  in  standing 
still  for  hours  to  be  mowed  down  by  cannon-shot; 
who  were  most  cheerful  and  patient  in  shipwreck, 
and  starvation,  and  defeat  — all  things  ten  times 
worse  than  fighting — ask  old  soldiers,  I say,  and 
they  will  tell  you  that  the  men  who  showed  best 
in  such  miseries  were  generally  the  stillest  and 
meekest  men  in  the  whole  regiment:  that  is  true 

fortitude;  that  is  Christ’s  image  — the  meekest  of 
men,  and  the  bravest  too. 

LXXIV. 

All  the  little  that  is  great  or  noble  in  man  or 
woman  is  perfected  in  Christ:  he  only  is  perfectly 
great,  perfectly  noble,  brave,  meek.  He  who,  to 
save  us  sinful  men,  endured  the  cross,  despising 
the  shame,  till  he  sat  down  at  the  right  hand  of 
the  Majesty  on  high,  perfectly  brave  he  is,  and 
perfectly  gentle,  and  will  be  so  forever ; for  even 
at  his  second  coming  when  he  shall  appear  the 
Conqueror  of  hell,  with  tens  of  thousands  of  angels, 
to  take  vengeance  on  those  who  know  not  God, 
and  destroy  the  wicked  with  the  breath  of  his 
mouth,  even  then,  in  his  fiercest  anger,  the  scrip- 
ture tells  us  his  anger  shall  be  “ the  anger  of 
the  Lord.”  Almighty  vengeance  and  just  anger, 
and  yet  perfect  gentleness  and  love  ail  the  while 


94 


LIVING  TRUTHS . 


— Mystery  of  mysteries!  — The  wrath  of  the  Lamb. 
May  God  give  us  all  to  feel  in  that  day,  not  the 
wrath,'  but  the  love,  of  the  Lamb  who  was  slain 
for  us! 


LXXV. 

Not  a cloud  which  fleets  across  the  sky,  not  a 
clod  of  earth  which  crumbles  under  the  frost,  not 
a blade  of  grass  which  breaks  through  the  snow 
in  spring,  not  a dead  leaf  which  falls  to  the 
earth  in  autumn,  but  is  doing  God’s  work,  and 
showing  forth  God’s  glory.  Not  a tiny  insect,  too 
small  to  be  seen  by  human  eyes  without  the  help 
of  a microscope,  but  is  as  fearfully  and  wonder- 
fully made  as  you  and  me,  and  has  its  proper 
food,  habitation,  work,  appointed  for  it,  and  not  in 
vain.  Nothing  is  idle,  nothing  is  wasted,  nothing 
goes  wrong,  in  this  wondrous  world  of  God.  The 
very  scum  upon  the  standing  pool,  which  seems 
mere  dirt  and  dust,  is  all  alive,  peopled  by  mil- 
lions of  creatures,  each  full  of  beauty,  full  of  use, 
obeying  laws  of  God  too  deep  for  us  to  do  aught 
but  dimly  guess  at  them;  and  as  men  see  deeper 
and  deeper  into  the  mystery  of  God’s  creation, 
they  find  in  the  commonest  things  about  them 
wonder  and  glory,  such  as  eye  hath  not  seen,  nor 
ear  heard,  nor  hath  it  entered  into  the  heart  of 


GOD  IN  NATURE. 


95 


man  to  conceive;  and  can  only  say  with  the 
psalmist,  “ Oh  Lord,  thy  ways  are  infinite,  thy 
thoughts  are  very  deep:”  and  confess  that  the 
grass  beneath  their  feet,  the  clouds  above  their 
heads  — ay,  every  worm  beneath  the  sod  and  bird 
upon  the  bough,  do,  in  very  deed  and  truth  bless 
the  Lord  who  made  them,  praise  him,  and  magni- 
fy him  forever,  not  with  words  indeed,  but  with 
works;  and  say  to  man  all  day  long,  “Go  thou 
and  do  likewise.” 


LXXVI. 

We  are  not  to  disbelieve  science,  nor  disregard 
the  laws  of  nature,  or  we  shall  loose  by  our  folly. 
But  we  are  to  believe  that  nature  and  science  are 
not  our  gods.  They  do  not  rule  us ; our  for- 
tunes are  not  in  their  hands.  Above  nature  and 
above  science  sits  the  Lord  of  nature  and  the  Lord  of 
science.  Above  all  the  counsels  of  princes,  and  the 
struggles  of  nations,  and  the  chances  and  changes  of  this 
world  of  man,  sits  the  Judge  of  princes  and  of  peoples, 
the  Lord  of  all  the  nations  upon  earth.  He  by  whom 
all  things  were  made,  and  who  upholdeth  all  things 
by  the  word  of  his  power ; and  he  is  man,  most 
human,  and  yet  most  divine ; full  of  justice  and 
truth,  full  of  care  and  watchfulness,  full  of  love  and 
pity,  full  of  tenderness  and  understanding ; a 


9<5 


LIVING  TRUTHS. 


Friend,  a Guide,  a Counsellor,  a Comforter,  a Sa- 
viour to  all  who  trust  in  him.  He  is  nearer  to 
us  than  nature  and  science,  and  he  should  be 
dearer  to  us ; for  they  speak  only  to  the  under- 
standing; but  he  speaks  to  our  human  hearts,  to 
our  inmost  spirits.  Nature  and  science  cannot  take 
away  our  sins,  give  peace  to  our  hearts,  right 
judgment  to  our  minds,  strength  to  our  wills,  or 
everlasting  life  to  our  souls  and  bodies.  But  there 
sits  One  upon  the  throne  who  can.  And  if  nature 
were  to  vanish  away,  and  science  were  to  be 
proved  (however  correct  as  far  as  it  went)  a mere 
child's  guess  about  this  wonderful  world,  which 
none  can  understand  save  he  who  made  it  — if  all 
the  counsels  of  princes  and  of  peoples,  however 
just  and  wise,  were  to  be  confounded  and  come  to 
nought,  still,  after  all,  and  beyond  all,  and  above 
all,  Christ  would  abide  forever,  with  human  ten- 
derness yearning  over  human  hearts ; with  human 
wisdom  teaching  human  ignorance ; with  human 
sympathy  sorrowing  with  human  mourners ; forever 
saying,  “ Come  unto  me  ye  that  are  weary  and 
heavy  laden,  and  I will  give  you  rest." 

LXXVII. 

Oh  that  I could  make  you  see  God  in  every 
thing,  and  every  thing  in  God  ! Oh,  that  I could 


GOD  IN  NATURE. 


97 


make  you  look  on  this  earth,  not  as  a mere  dull, 
dreary  prison  and  workhouse  for  your  mortal  bodies, 
but  as  a living  book  to  speak  to  you  at  every 
time  of  the  living  God,  Father,  Son,  and  Holy 
Ghost ! Sure  I am  that  that  would  be  a heavenly 
life  for  you ; sure  I am  that  it  would  keep  you 
from  many  a sin,  and  stir  you  up  to  many  a holy 
thought  and  deed,  if  you  could  learn  to  find  in 
every  thing  around  you,  however  small  or  mean,  the 
work  of  God’s  hand,  the  likeness  of  God’s  counte- 
nance, the  shadow  of  God’s  glory. 

LXXVIII. 

It  was  a “ day  of  God.”  The  earth  lay  like  one 
great  emerald,  ringed  and  roofed  with  sapphire ; blue 
sea,  blue  mountain,  blue  sky  overhead.  There  she  lay, 
not  sleeping,  but  basking  in  her  quiet  Sabbath 
joy,  as  though  her  two  great  sisters  of  the  sea 
and  air  had  washed  her  weary  limbs  with  holy 
tears,  and  purged  away  the  stains  of  last  week’s 
sin  and  toil,  and  cooled  her  hot,  worn  forehead 
with  their  pure  incense-breath,  and  folded  her  within 
their  azure  robes,  and  brooded  over  her  with  smiles 
of  pitying  love,  till  she  smiled  back  in  answer, 
and  took  heart  and  hope  for  next  week’s  weary 
work. 

Heart  and  hope  for  next  week’s  work.  That  was 


98 


LIVING  TRUTHS. 


the  sermon  that  it  preached  to  Tom  Thurwall,  as 
he  stood  there  alone,  a stranger  and  a wanderer, 
like  Ulysses  of  old;  but  like  himself  helpful, 
cheerful,  fate  defiant.  In  one  respect,  indeed,  he 
knew  less  than  Ulysses,  and  was  more  of  a heathen 
than  he ; for  he  knew  not  what  Ulysses  knew, 
that  a heavenly  guide  was  with  him  in  his  wan- 
derings ; still  less  what  Ulysses  knew  not,  that 
what  he  called  the  malicious  sport  of  fortune  was, 
in  truth,  the  earnest  education  of  a Father;  but 
who  will  blame  him  for  getting  strength  and  com- 
fort from  such  merely  natural  founts,  or  say  that 
the  impulse  came  from  below,  and  not  from  above, 
which  made  him  say  — 

“ Brave  old  world  she  is,  after  all,  and  right 
well  made ; and  looks  right  well  to-day  in  her  go- 
to-meeting  clothes ; and  plenty  of  room  and  chance 
in  her  for  a brave  man  to  earn  his  bread,  if  he 
will  but  go  right  on  about  his  business,  instead  of 
peaking  and  pining  over  what  people  think  of  him. 
Hark  to  that  jolly  old  missel-thrush  below ! He’s 
had  his  nest  to  build  and  his  supper  to  earn,  and 
his  young  ones  to  feed,  and  all  the  crows  and 
kites  in  the  wood  to  drive  away,  the  sturdy  John 
Bull  that  he  is  ; and  yet  he  can  find  time  to  sing 
as  merrily  as  an  abbot,  morning  and  evening,  since 
he  sung  the  new  year  in  last  January.  And  why 
should  not  I ? ” 


GOD  IN  NATURE. 


99 


Let  him  be  awhile ; there  are  sounds  of  deeper 
meaning  in  the  air,  if  his  heart  had  ears  to  hear 
them  : far-off  church  bells  chiming  to  even-song ; 
hymn-tunes  floating  up  the  glen  from  the  little 
chapel  in  the  vale.  He  may  learn  what  they,  too, 
mean  some  day.  Honor  to  him  at  least  that  he 
has  learnt  what  the  missel-thrush  below  can  tell. 
If  he  accept  cheerfully  and  manfully  the  things 
which  he  does  see,  he  will  be  all  the  more  able 
to  enter  hereafter  into  the  deeper  mystery  of 
things  unseen.  The  road  toward  true  faith  and 
reverence  for  God’s  kingdom  of  heaven  does  not 
lie  through  Manichaean  contempt  and  slander  of 
God’s  kingdom  of  earth. 

Let  him  be,  I say  again.  He  might  have  better 
Sunday  thoughts ; perhaps  he  will  some  day.  At 
least  he  is  a man,  and  a brave  one ; and  as  the 
greater  contains  the  less,  surely  before  a man  can 
be  a good  man  he  must  be  a brave  one  flrsk 
much  more  a man  at  all.  Cowards,  old  Odin  held, 
inevitably  went  to  the  very  bottom  of  Hela-pool, 
and  by  no  possibility,  unless,  of  course,  they  became 
brave  at  last,  could  rise  out  of  that  bog,  but  sank 
whining  lower  and  lower  like  mired  cattle  to  all 
eternity  in  the  unfathomable  peat-slime.  And  if  the 
twenty-first  chapter  of  the  Book  of  Revelation,  and 
the  eighth  verse,  is  to  be  taken  as  it  stands,  their 
doom  has  not  altered  since  Odin’s  time,  unless  to 
become  still  worse. 


IOO 


LIVING  TRUTHS. 


LXXIX. 

One  of  the  most  learned  scholars  in  England  was 
once  a village  carpenter,  who  used,  when  young,  to 
keep  a book  open  before  him  on  his  bench  while 
he  worked,  and  thus  contrived  to  teach  himself, 
one  after  the  other,  Latin,  Greek  and  Hebrew.  So 
much  time  may  a man  find  who  looks  for  time. 

LXXX. 

How  short  the  time  seems  since  we  were  young ! 
How  quickly  it  has  gone  ! How  every  year,  as  we 
grow  older,  seems  to  go  more  and  more  quickly,  and 
there  is  less  time  to  do  what  we  want,  to  think 
seriously,  to  improve  ourselves.  So  soon,  and  it 
will  be  over,  and  we  shall  have  no  time  at  all,  for 
We  shall  be  in  eternity.  And  what  then  ? What 
then  ? That  depends  on  what  now.  On  what  we 
are  doing  now.  Are  we  letting  our  short  span  of 
life  slip  away  in  sleep ; fancying  ourselves  all  the 
while  wide  awake  — as  we  do  in  dreams  — till  we  wake 
really,  and  find  that  it  is  daylight,  and  that  all  oi. : 
best  dreams  were  nothing  but  useless  fancy  ? How 
many  dream  away  their  lives ! Some  upon  gain, 
some  upon  pleasure,  some  upon  petty  self-interest, 
petty  quarrels,  petty  ambitions,  petty  squabbles 
and  jealousies  about  this  person  and  that,  which  are 


TIME . 


IOI 


no  more  worthy  to  take  up  a reasonable  human 
being’s  lime  and  thoughts  than  so  many  dreams 
would  be.  Some,  too,  dream  away  their  lives  in  sin, 
in  works  of  darkness  which  they  are  forced  for  shame 
and  safety  to  hide,  lest  they  should  come  to  the  light 
and  be  exposed.  So  people  dream  their  lives  away, 
and  go  about  their  daily  business  as  men,  who  walk 
in  their  sleep,  wandering  about  with  their  eyes  open, 
and  yet  seeing  nothing  of  what  is  really  about  them. 
Seeing  nothing : though  they  think  that  they  see 
and  know  their  own  interest,  and  are  shrewd  enough 
to  find  their  way  about  this  world.  But  they  know 
nothing  — nothing  of  the  very  world  with  which 
they  pride  themselves  they  are  so  thoroughly  ac- 
quainted. None  know  less  of  the  world  than  those 
who  pride  themselves  on  being  men  of  the  world. 
For  the  true  light,  which  shines  all  around  them, 
they  do  not  see,  and  therefore  they  do  not  see  the 
truth  of  things  by  that  light.  If  they  did,  then 
they  would  see  that  of  which  now  they  do  not 
even  dream. 

They  would  see  that  God  was  around  them,  about 
their  path  and  about  their  bed,  and  spying  out  all 
their  ways ; and  in  the  light  of  his  presence,  they 
dare  not  be  frivolous,  dare  not  be  ignorant,  dare 
not  be  mean,  dare  not  be  spiteful,  dare  not  be 
unclean. 

They  would  see  that  Christ  was  around  them, 


102 


LIVING  TRUTHS . 


knocking  at  the  door  of  their  hearts  that  he  may 
enter  in,  and  dwell  there,  and  give  them  peace ; 
crying  to  their  restless,  fretful,  confused,  unhappy 
souls,  “ Come  unto  me,  all  ye  that  labor  and  are 
heavy  laden,  and  I will  give  you  rest.  Take  my 

yoke  upon  you  and  learn  of  me ; for  I am  meek 

and  lowly  in  heart ; and  ye  shall  find  rest  unto 

your  souls.” 

They  would  see  that  duty  was  around  them.  Duty 
— the  only  thing  really  worth  living  for.  The  only 

thing  which  will  pay  a man,  either  for  this  life  or 
the  next.  The  only  thing  which  will  give  a man 
rest  and  peace,  manly  and  quiet  thoughts,  a good 
conscience,  and  a stout  heart  in  the  midst  of  hard 
labor,  anxiety,  sorrow  and  disappointment  ; because 
he  feels  at  least  that  he  is  doing  his  duty ; that  he 
is  obeying  God  and  Christ,  that  he  is  working  with 
them,  and  for  them,  and  that  therefore  they  are 
working  with  him,  and  for  him.  God,  Christ  and 
Duty,  these,  and  more,  will  a man  see  if  he  will  awake 
out  of  sleep,  and  consider  where  he  is,  by  the  light 
of  God’s  Holy  Spirit. 

LXXXI. 

t%  All  things  begin  in  some  wonder,  and  in  some 
wonder  all  things  end,”  said  St.  Augustine,  wisest 
in  his  day  of  all  mortal  men ; and  all  that  great 


TIME . 


103 


scholars  have  discovered  since  prove  more  and  more 
that  St.  Augustine’s  words  were  true,  and  that  the 
wisest  are  only,  as  a great  philosopher  once  said, 
and  one,  too,  who  discovered  more  of  God’s  works 
than  any  man  for  many  a hundred  years,  even 
Sir  Isaac  Newton  himself:  “The  wisest  of  us  is 

but  like  a child  picking  up  a few  shells  and  peb- 
bles on  the  shore  of  a boundless  sea.” 

The  shells  and  pebbles  are  the  little  scraps  of 
knowledge  which  God  vouchsafes  to  us,  his  sinful 
children ; knowledge  of  which  at  best  St.  Paul 
says,  that  we  know  only  in  part,  and  prophesy  in 
part,  and  think  as  children ; and  that  knowledge 
shall  vanish  away,  and  tongues  shall  cease,  and 
prophecies  shall  fail. 

And  the  boundless  sea  is  the  great  ocean  of 
time — of  God’s  created  universe,  above  which  his 
spirit  broods  over,  perfect  in  love  and  wisdom  and 
almighty  power,  as  at  the  beginning,  moving  above 
the  face  of  the  waters  of  time,  giving  life  to  all 
things,  forever  blessing,  and  forever  blest. 

God  grant  us  all  to  see  the  day  when  we  shall 
have  passed  safely  across  that  sea  of  time,  up  to 
the  sure  land  of  eternity;  and  shall  no  more  think 
as  children,  or  know  in  part ; but  shall  see  God 
face  to  face,  and  know  him  even  as  we  are  known  ; 
and  find  him,  the  nearer  we  draw  to  him,  more 
wonderful,  and  more  glorious,  and  more  good  than 


ever. 


104 


LIVING  TRUTHS. 


LXXXII. 

Mankind  is  a diseased  race ; and  it  must  pay 
the  penalty  of  its  sins  for  many  an  age  to  come, 
and  die,  and  suffer,  and  sorrow.  But  not  forever. 
For  what  mean  such  words  as  these  — for  some- 
thing they  must  mean  ? 

“ If  a man  keep  my  sayings,  he  shall  never  see 
death.”  And  again,  “ He  that  believeth  in  me, 
though  he  were  dead,  yet  shall  he  live;  and  he 
that  liveth  and  believeth  in  me  shall  never  die.” 

Do  such  words  as  these  mean  only  that  we  shall 
rise  again  in  the  resurrection  at  the  last  day  ? 
Surely  not.  Our  Lord  spoke  them  in  answer  to 
that  very  notion. 

“ Martha  said  to  him,  I know  that  my  brother 
shall  rise  again,  in  the  resurrection  at  the  last  day. 
Jesus  said  unto  her,  I am  the  resurrection  and  the 
life , ” and  then  showed  what  he  meant  by  bring- 
ing back  Lazarus  to  life,  unchanged,  and  as  he 
had  been  before  he  died. 

Surely  if  that  miracle  meant  any  thing,  if  these 
words  meant  any  thing,  it  meant  this : that  those 
who  die  in  the  fear  of  God,  and  in  the  faith  of 
Christ,  do  not  really  taste  death ; that  to  them 
there  is  no  deaths  but  only  a change  of  place,  a 
change  of  state ; that  they  pass  at  once,  and  in- 
stantly, into  some  new  life,  with  all  their  powers, 


DEATH. 


IOS 

all  their  feelings,  unchanged,  purified,  doubtless,  from 
earthly  stains,  but  still  the  same  living,  thinking, 
active  beings  which  they  were  here  on  earth.  I 
say  active.  The  Bible  says  nothing  about  their 
sleeping  till  the  Day  of  Judgment,  as  some  have 
fancied.  Rest  they  may ; rest  they  will,  if  they 
need  rest.  But  what  is  the  true  rest?  Not  idleness, 
but  peace  of  mind.  To  rest  from  sin,  from  sorrow, 
from  fear,  from  doubt,  from  care  — this  is  the  true 
rest.  Above  all,  to  rest  from  the  worst  weariness 
of  all — -knowing  one’s  duty,  and  yet  not  being 
able  to  do  it.  That  is  true  rest ; the  rest  of  God, 
who  works  forever,  and  yet  is  at  rest  forever;  as 
the  stars  over  our  heads  move  forever,  thousands 
of  miles  each  day,  and  yet  are  at  perfect  rest, 
because  they  move  orderly,  harmoniously,  fulfilling 
the  law  which  God  has  given  them.  Perfect  rest, 
in  perfect  work  ; that  surely  is  the  rest  of  blessed 
spirits,  till  the  final  consummation  of  all  things, 
when  Christ  shall  have  made  up  the  number  of 
his  elect. 

LXXXIII. 

What  comfort  for  us  who  have  seen  others  die, 
if  death  be  but  a new  birth  into  some  higher 
life;  if  all  that  it  changes  in  us  is  our  body  — 
the  mere  shell  and  husk  of  us  — such  a change  as 


io6 


LIVING  TRUTHS. 


comes  over  the  snake,  when  he  casts  his  old  skin, 
and  comes  out  fresh  and  gay,  or  even  the  crawl- 
ing caterpillar,  which  breaks  its  prison,  and  spreads 
its  wings  to  the  sun  as  a fair  butterfly.  Where  is 
the  sting  of  death,  then,  if  death  can  sting,  and 
poison,  and  corrupt  nothing  of  us  for  which  our 
friends  have  loved  us ; nothing  of  us  with  which 
we  could  do  service  to  men  or  God  ? Where  is 
the  victory  of  the  grave,  if,  so  far  from  the  grave 
holding  us  down,  it  frees  us  from  the  very  thing 
which  holds  us  down  — the  mortal  body  ? 

LXXXIV. 

Death  is  not  death,  if  it  kills  no  part  of  us  save 
that  which  hindered  us  from  perfect  life.  Death  is 
not  death,  if  it  raises  us  in  a moment  from  darkness 
into  light,  from  weakness  into  strength,  from  sinful- 
ness into  holiness.  Death  is  not  death,  if  it  brings 
us  nearer  to  Christ,  who  is  the  fount  of  life.  Death 
is  not  death,  if  it  perfects  our  faith  by  sight,  and 
lets  us  behold  him  in  whom  we  have  believed. 
Death  is  not  death,  if  it  gives  us  to  those  whom  we 
have  loved  and  lost,  for  whom  we  have  lived,  for 
whom  we  long  to  live  again.  Death  is  not  death,  if 
it  joins  the  child  to  the  mother  who  is  gone  before. 
Death  is  not  death,  if  it  takes  away  from  that  mother 
forever  all  a mother’s  anxieties,  a mother’s  fears, 


DEATH. 


107 


and  lets  her  see,  in  the  gracious  countenance  of  her 
Saviour,  a sure  and  certain  pledge  that  those  whom 
she  has  left  behind  are  safe,  safe  with  Christ  and 
in  Christ,  through  all  the  chances  and  dangers  of 
this  mortal  life.  Death  is  not  death,  if  it  rids  us  of 
doubt  and  fear,  of  chance  and  change,  of  space  and 
time,  and  all  which  space  and  time  bring  forth,  and 
then  destroy.  Death  is  not  death ; for  Christ  has 
conquered  death  for  himself,  and  those  who  trust  in 
him. 


LXXXV. 

Is  not  this  mortal  life  compared  with  the  life  to 
come,  as  night  compared  with  day?  I do  not  mean 
to  speak  evil  of  it.  God  forbid  that  we  should  do 
any  thing  but  thank  God  for  this  life.  God  forbid 
that  we  should  say  impiously  to  him  : Why  hast  thou 

made  me  thus  ? No.  God  made  this  mortal  life, 
and  therefore,  like  all  things  which  he  has  made, 
it  is  very  good.  But  there  are  good  nights,  and 
there  are  bad  nights ; and  there  are  happy  lives  and 
unhappy  ones.  But  what  are  they  at  best?  What 
is  the  life  of  the  happiest  man  without  the  Holy 
Spirit  of  God  ? A night  full  of  pleasant  dreams. 
What  is  the  life  of  the  wisest  man  ? A night  of 
darkness,  through  which  he  gropes  his  way  by  lan- 
thorn-light,  slowly,  and  with  many  mistakes  and 


io8 


LIVING  TRUTHS. 


stumbles.  When  we  compare  man’s  vast  capabilities 
with  his  small  deeds ; when  we  think  how  much  he 
might  know  — how  little  he  does  know  in  this  mor- 
tal life  — can  we  wonder  that  the  highest  spirits  in 
every  age  have  looked  on  death  as  a deliverance 
out  of  darkness  and  a dungeon  ? And  if  this  is  life 
at  the  best,  what  is  life  at  the  worst  ? To  how  many 
is  life  a night,  not  of  peace  and  rest,  but  of  tossing 
and  weariness,  pain  and  sickness,  anxiety  and  misery, 
till  they  are  ready  to  cry:  When  will  it  be  over? 

When  will  kind  Death  come  and  give  me  rest? 
When  will  the  night  of  this  life  be  spent,  and  the 
day  of  God  arise  ? “ Out  of  the  depths  have  I cried 

unto  thee,  O Lord.  Lord,  hear  my  voice.  . . . My 
soul  doth  wait  for  the  Lord  more  than  the  sick 
man  who  watches  for  the  morning.” 

Yes,  think — for  it  is  good  at  times,  however  happy 
one  may  be  oneself,  to  think  — of  all  the  misery  and 
sorrow  that  there  is  on  earth,  and  how  many  there 
are  who  would  be  glad  to  hear  that  it  was  nearly 
over;  glad  to  hear  that  the  night  was  far  spent,  and 
the  day  was  at  hand. 

LXXXVI. 

“ Blessed  are  the  dead  who  die  in  the  Lord ; for 
they  rest  from  their  labors,  and  their  works  do 
follow  them.”  They  rest  from  their  labors.  All 


DEATH. 


109 

their  struggles,  disappointments,  failures,  backsliclings, 
which  made  them  unhappy  here,  because  they  could 
not  perfectly  do  the  will  of  God,  are  past  and  over 
forever.  But  their  works  follow  them.  The  good 
which  they  did  on  earth — that  is  not  past  and  over. 
It  cannot  die.  It  lives  and  grows  forever,  follow- 
ing on  in  their  path  long  after  they  are  dead,  and 
bearing  fruit  unto  everlasting  life,  not  only  in  them, 
but  in  men  whom  they  never  saw,  and  in  generations 
yet  unborn. 

LXXXVII. 

We  shall  rise  again,  and  we  shall  be  the  same  we 
are  now,  and  yet  not  the  same ; our  bodies  shall 
be  the  same  bodies,  and  yet  nobler,  purer,  spirit- 
ual bodies,  which  can  know  neither  death,  nor 
pain,  nor  weariness.  Then  never  care,  though  we 
drop  like  ripe  grain  into  the  bosom  of  mother 
earth,  if  we  are  to  spring  up  again  as  seedling 
plants,  after  death’s  long  winter,  on  the  resurrec- 
tion morn.  Truly  says  the  poet,  how  — 

“ Mother  earth,  she  gathers  all 
Into  her  bosom,  great  and  small ; 

Oh,  could  we  look  into  her  face 
We  should  not  shrink  from  her  embrace.” 


no 


LIVING  TRUTHS, . 


No,  indeed ! for  if  we  look  steadily  with  the 
wise,  searching  eye  of  faith  into  the  face  of  mother 
earth,  we  shall  see  how  death  is  but  the  gate  of  life, 
and  the  narrow  churchyard  but  a blessed,  quiet,  seed- 
filled  God’s-garden,  in  which  our  forefathers,  after 
their  long  life-labor,  lay  sown  by  God’s  friendly 
hand,  waiting  peaceful,  one  and  all,  to  spring  up 
into  leaf  and  flower,  and  everlasting  paradise-fruit 
beneath  the  breath  of  God’s  spirit  at  the  last 
great  day,  when  the  Sun  of  Righteousness  arises  in 
glory,  and  the  summer  begins  which  shall  never 
end. 


LXXXVIII. 

There  was  a heathen  king  once,  named  Philip 
of  Macedon,  and  a very  wise  king  he  was,  though 
he  was  a heathen,  and  one  of  the  wisest  of  his 
plans  was  this  : He  had  a slave  whom  he  ordered 
to  come  in  to  him  every  morning  of  his  life,  what- 
ever he  was  doing,  and  say  to  him  in  a loud 
voice,  “ Philip,  remember  that  thou  must  die.” 

He  was  a heathen,  but  a great  many  who  call 
themselves  Christians  are  not  half  so  wise  as  he, 
for  they  take  all  possible  care  not  to  remember 
that  they  must  die,  but  to  forget  that  they  must 
die  ; and  yet  every  living  man  has  a servant  who, 
like  King  Philip’s,  puts  him  in  mind,  whether  he 


DEATH. 


hi 


likes  it  or  not,  that  his  day  will  run  out  at  last, 
and  his  twelve  hours  of  life  be  over,  and  then 
die  he  must.  And  who  is  that  servant  ? A man’s 
own  body.  Happy  for  him,  though,  if  his  body  is  his 
servant  — not  his  master  and  his  tyrant.  But  still, 
be  that  as  it  may,  every  finger-ache  that  one’s 
body  has,  every  cough  and  cold  one’s  body  catches, 
ought  to  be  to  us  a warning  like  King  Philip’s 
servant,  “ Remember  that  thou  must  die.”  Every 
little  pain  and  illness  is  a warning,  a kindly  hint 
from  our  Father  in  Heaven  that  we  are  doomed 
to  death ; that  we  have  but  twelve  hours  in  this 
short  day  of  life,  and  that  the  twelve  must  end ; 
and  that  we  must  get  our  work  done,  and  our 
accounts  settled,  and  be  ready  for  our  long  jour- 
ney, to  meet  our  Father  and  our  King,  before  the 
night  comes  wherein  no  man  can  work,  but  only 
take  his  wages ; for  them  who  have  done  good  the 
wages  of  life  eternal,  and  for  them  who  have  done 
evil  — God  help  them ! we  know  what  is  written  — 
“The  wages  of  sin  is  death.” 

LXXXIX. 

Wild,  wild  wind,  wilt  thou  never  cease  thy  sigh- 
ing? 

Dark,  dark  night,  wilt  thou  never  wear  away? 


1 1 2 


LIVING  TRUTHS. 


Cold,  cold  church,  in  thy  death-sleep  lying, 

The  Lent  is  past,  thy  Passion  here,  but  not 
thine  Easter-day. 

Peace,  faint  heart,  though  the  night  be  dark  and 
sighing  ; 

Rest,  fair  corpse,  where  thy  Lord  himself  hath 
lain  ; 

Weep,  dear  Lord,  where  thy  bride  is  lying ; 

Thy  tears  shall  wake  her  frozen  limbs  to  life 
and  health  again. 

XC. 

What  is  life  ? And  what  is  the  waters  of  life  ? 

What  are  they  indeed,  my  friends  ? You  will  find 
many  answers  to  that  question  in  this,  as  in  all  ages  : 
but  the  one  which  Scripture  gives  is  this  : Life  is 
none  other,  according  to  the  Scripture,  than  God 
himself,  Jesus  Christ  our  Lord,  who  bestows  on  man 
his  own  Spirit,  to  form  in  him  his  own  character, 
which  is  the  character  of  God. 

He  is  the  one  Eternal  Life ; and  it  has  been  mani- 
fested in  human  form,  that  human  beings  might 
copy  it ; and  behold,  it  was  full  of  grace  and  truth. 

The  life  of  grace  and  truth  ; that  is  the  life  of 
Christ,  and  therefore  the  life  of  God. 

The  life  of  grace  — of  graciousness,  love,  pity, 


IMMORTALITY. 


IJ3 

generosity,  usefulness,  self-sacrifice ; the  life  of  truth 
— of  faithfulness,  fairness,  justice,  the  desire  to  im- 
part knowledge  and  to  guide  men  into  all  truth.  Tne 
life,  in  one  word,  of  charity,  which  is  both  grace  and 
truth,  both  love  and  justice,  in  one  eternal  essence. 
That  is  the  life  which  God  lives  for  ever  in  heaven. 
That  is  the  one  Eternal  Life,  which  must  be  also  the 
life  of  God.  For,  as  there  is  but  one  Eternal,  even 
God,  so  is  there  but  one  eternal  life,  which  is  the 
life  of  God  and  his  Christ.  And  the  Spirit  by 
which  it  is  inspired  into  the  hearts  of  men  is  the 
Spirit  of  God,  who  proceedeth  alike  from  the  Father 
and  from  the  Son. 

Have  you  not  seen  men  and  women  in  whom  these 
words  have  been  literally  and  palpably  fulfilled  ? 
Have  you  not  seen  those  who,  though  old  in  years, 
were  so  young  in  heart,  that  they  seem  to  have 
drunk  of  the  Fountain  of  perpetual  youth  — in  whom, 
though  the  outward  body  decayed,  the  soul  was 
renewed  day  by  day ; who  kept  fresh  and  pure  the 
noblest  and  holiest  instincts  of  their  childhood,  and 
went  on  adding  to  them  the  experience,  the  calm,  the 
charity  of  age  ? Persons  whose  eye  was  still  so 
bright,  whose  smile  was  still  so  tender,  that  it  seemed 
that  they  could  never  die  ? And  when  they  died,  or 
seemed  to  die,  you  felt  that  they  were  not  dead,  but 
only  their  husk  and  shell  ; that  they  themselves,  the 
character  which  you  had  loved  and  reverenced,  must 


LIVING  TRUTHS 


114 

endure  on,  beyond  the  grave,  beyond  the  worlds, 
in  an  literally  everlasting  life,  independent  of  nature, 
and  of  all  the  changes  of  the  material  universe. 

XCI. 

Our  life’s  floor 

Is  laid  upon  eternity  ; no  crack  in  it 
But  shows  the  underlying  heaven. 

XCII. 

It  was  credible  enough  in  old  times,  when  the 
earth  was  held  to  be  all  but  the  whole  universe,  that 
God  should  descend  on  earth,  and  take  on  him 
human  nature,  to  save  human  beings.  Is  it  credible 
now  ? This  little  corner  of  the  systems  and  the 

galaxies  ? This  paltry  race  which  we  call  man  ? Are 
they  worthy  of  the  interposition,  of  the  death,  of  In- 
carnate God  — of  the  Maker  of  such  a universe  as 
science  has  discovered  ? 

Yes.  If  we  will  keep  in  mind  that  one  word 

“ Father.”  Then  we  dare  say,  yes,  in  full  assurance 
of  faith.  For  thm  we  have  taken  the  question  off 
the  mere  material  ground  of  size  and  power;  to  put  it 

■v 

once  and  forever  on  that  spiritual  ground  of  justice  and 
love  which  is  implied  in  the  one  word  — “ Father.” 

If  God  be  a perfect  Father,  then  there  must  be  a 


GOD,  THE  FATHER . 


TI5 


perpetual  intercourse  of  some  kind  between  him  and 
his  children  ; between  him  and  that  planet,  how- 
ever small,  on  which  he  has  set  his  children,  that  they 
may  be  educated  into  his  likeness.  If  God  be  perfect 
justice,  the  wrong,  and  consequent  misery  of  the  uni- 
verse, however  small,  must  be  intolerable  to  him.  If 
God  be  perfect  love,  there  is  no  sacrifice  — remember 
that  great  word  — which  he  may  not  condescend 
to  make,  in  order  to  right  that  wrong,  and  alleviate 
that  misery.  If  God  be  the  Father  of  our  spirits, 
the  spiritual  welfare  of  his  children  may  be  more 
important  to  him  than  the  whole  brute  matter  of  the 
universe.  Think  not  to  frighten  us  with  the  idols 
of  size  and  height.  God  is  a Spirit  befDre  whom 
all  material  things  are  equally  great  and  equally 
small.  Let  us  think  of  him  as  such,  and  not  merely 
as  a Being  of  physical  power  and  inventive  craft. 
Let  us  believe  in  our  Father  in  heaven.  For  then 
that  higher  intellect,  — that  pure  reason,  which  dwells 
not  in  the  heads,  but  in  the  hearts  of  men,  will  tell 
them  that  if  they  have  a Father  in  heaven,  he  must 
be  exercising  a special  providence  over  the  minutest 
affairs  of  their  lives,  by  which  he  is  striving  to  educate 
them  into  his  likeness  ; a special  providence  over  the 
fate  of  every  atom  in  the  universe,  by  which  his  laws 
shall  work  together  for  the  moral  improvement  of 
every  creature  capable  thereof ; that  not  a sparrow 
can  fall  to  the  ground  without  his  knowledge  ; and 


ii6 


LIVING  TRUTHS. 


that  not  a hair  of  their  head  can  be  touched,  unless 
suffering  is  needed  for  the  education  of  their  souls. 

XCIII. 

Look  out  on  the  world  around  you.  What  wit- 
ness does  it  bear  concerning  the  God  who  made 
it?  Who  made  the  sunshine,  and  the  flowers,  and 
singing  birds,  and  little  children,  and  all  that 
causes  the  joy  of  this  life  ? Let  Christ  himself 
speak,  and  his  apostles.  No  one  can  say  that  their 
words  are  not  true ; that  they  were  mistaken  in 
their  view  of  this  earth,  or  of  God  who  gave  it 
to  us  that  it  might  bear  witness  of  him.  What 
said  our  Lord  to  the  poor  folk  of  Galilee,  of  whom 
the  Scribes  and  the  Pharisees,  in  their  pride  said, 
“ This  people,  who  knoweth  not  the  law,  is  ac- 
cursed.” What  said  our  Lord,  very  God  of  very 
God  ? He  told  them  to  look  on  the  world  around, 
and  learn  from  it  that  they  had  in  heaven  not  a 
tyrant,  not  a destroyer,  but  a Father,  a Father  in 
heaven  who  is  perfect  in  this,  that  he  causeth  his 
sun  to  shine  upon  them,  and  is  good  to  the 
unthankful  and  the  evil. 

XCIV. 


Cling  to  all  which  can  fill  your  mind  with  lofty. 


GOD,  THE  FATHER . 


117 

kindly,  generous,  loyal  thoughts ; and  so,  in  God’s 
good  time,  you  will  enter  into  the  meaning  of  those 
great  words  — Abba,  Father.  The  more  you  give  up 
your  hearts  to  such  good  feelings,  the  more  you  will 
understand  of  God;  the  more  nobleness  there  is 
in  you,  the  more  you  will  see  God’s  nobleness, 
God’s  justice,  God’s  love,  God’s  true  glory.  The 
more  you  become  like  God’s  Son,  the  more  you 
will  understand  how  God  can  stoop  to  call  himself 
your  Father ; and  the  more ' you  will  understand 
what  a Father,  what  a perfect  Father  God  is.  And 
in  the  world  to  come,  I trust,  you  will  enter  into 
the  glorious  liberty  of  the  sons  of  God  — that 
liberty  which  comes  not  from  doing  your  own  will, 
but  the  will  of  God ; that  glory  which  comes  not 
from  having  any  thing  of  your  own  to  pride 
yourselves  upon,  but  from  being  filled  with  the 
Spirit  of  God,  the  Spirit  of  Jesus  Christ,  by  which 
you  shall  forever  look  up  freely,  and  yet  reverently, 
to  the  Almighty  God  of  heaven  and  earth,  and  say, 
“ Impossible  as  the  honor  seems  for  man,  yet  thou, 

0 God,  hast  said  it,  and  it  is  true.  Thou,  even 
thou,  art  my  Father,  and  I thy  son  in  Jesus  Christ, 
who  became  awhile  the  Son  of  man  on  earth,  that 

1 might  become  forever  the  son  of  God  in  heaven.” 
And  so  will  come  to  us  St.  Paul’s  great  words : 

“ If  we  be  sons,  then  heirs  of  God,  joint  heirs 
with  Christ.” 


1 18 


LIVING  TRUTHS. 


Heirs  of  God ; but  what  is  our  inheritance  ? The 
same  as  Christ’s. 

And  what  is  Christ’s  inheritance  ? What  but  God 
himself?  The  knowledge  of  our  Father  in  heaven, 
of  his  love  to  us,  and  of  his  eternal  beauty  and 
glory,  which  fills  all  heavens  and  all  worlds  with 
light  and  life. 

XCV. 

This  is  the  secret  of  life  — to  believe  that  God 
is  your  Father,  schooling  and  training  you  from 
your  cradle  to  your  grave;  and  then  to  please 

him  and  obey  him  in  all  things,  lifting  up  daily 
your  hands  and  thankful  heart,  entreating  him  to 
purge  the  eyes  of  your  soul,  and  give  you  the  true 
wisdom,  which  is  to  see  all  things  as  they  really 
are,  and  as  God  himself  sees  them.  If  you  do 
that,  you  may  believe  that  God  will  teach  you 

more  and  more  how  to  do  in  all  the  affairs  of 

life,  that  which  is  right  in  his  sight  and  therefore 

good  for  you.  He  will  teach  you  more  and  more 
to  see  in  all  which  happens  to  you,  all  which  goes 
on  around  you,  his  fatherly  love,  his  patient 
mercy,  his  providential  care  for  all  his  creatures. 
He  will  reward  you  by  making  you  more  and  more 
partaker  of  his  Holy  Spirit  and  of  truth,  by  which, 
seeing  every  thing  as  it  really  is,  you  will  at  last 


GOD , THE  FATHER. 


ii9 

— if  not  in  this  life,  still  in  the  life  to  come  — 
grow  to  see  God  himself,  who  has  made  all  things 
according  to  his  own  eternal  mind,  that  they  may 
be  a pattern  of  his  unspeakable  glory;  and  beyond 
that,  who  needs  to  see?  For  to  know  God,  and  to 
see  God,  is  eternal  life  itself. 

XCVI. 

Not  all  the  thinking  in  the  world  can  ever  make 
us  comprehend  the  majesty  of  our  Heavenly  Father ; 
but  we  do  not  remember  enough  what  we  do  know 
of  God.  We  think  of  God,  watching  the  world  and 
all  things  in  it,  and  keeping  them  in  order  as  a shep- 
herd does  his  sheep,  and  so  far  so  good ; but  we 
forget  that  God  does  more  than  this  — we  forget 
that  this  earth,  sun,  and  moon,  and  all  the  thousand, 
thousand  stars  which  cover  the  midnight  sky  — many 
of  them  suns  larger  than  the  sun  we  see,  and  worlds 
larger  than  the  world  on  which  we  stand,  that  all 
these  stretching  away  millions  of  millions  of  miles 
into  boundless  space  — all  are  lying  like  one  little 
grain  of  dust,  in  the  hollow  of  God’s  hand,  and  that 
if  he  were  to  shut  his  hand  upon  them  he  could  crush 
them  into  nothing,  and  God  would  be  alone  in  the 
universe  again  as  he  was  before  heaven  and  earth 
were  made.  Think  of  that ! — that  if  God  was  but 
to  will  it,  we  and  this  earth  on  which  we  stand,  and 


120 


LIVING  TRUTHS. 


the  heaven  above  us,  and  the  sun  that  shines  on  us, 
should  vanish  away,  and  be  nowhere  and  nothing. 
Think  of  the  infinite  power  of  God,  and  then  think 
how  is  it  possible  to  live,  except  by  faith  in  him,  by 
trusting  to  him  utterly  ? If  you  accustom  yourselves 
to  think  in  the  same  way  of  the  infinite  wisdom  of 
God,  and  the  infinite  love  of  God,  they  will  both 
teach  you  the  same  lesson ; they  will  show  you  that 
if  you  were  the  greatest,  the  wisest,  the  holiest  man 
that  ever  lived,  you  would  still  be  such  a speck  by 
the  side  of  the  Almighty  and  Everlasting  God,  that 
it  would  be  madness  to  depend  upon  yourselves  for 
any  thing  while  you  lived  in  God’s  world.  For,  after 
all,  what  can  we  do  without  God  ? In  him  we  live, 
and  move,  and  have  our  being.  He  made  us,  he 
gave  us  our  bodies,  he  gave  us  our  life ; what  we 
do,  he  lets  us  do  ; what  we  say,  he  lets  us  say ; we 
all  live  on  sufferance. 

And  it  is  the  same  with  the  life  of  our  spirits  ; in 
it,  too,  we  must  live  by  faith.  The  life  of  our  spirits 
is  a gift  from  God,  the  Father  of  spirits,  and  he  has 
chosen  to  declare  that  unless  we  trust  to  him  for  life, 
and  ask  him  for  life,  he  will  not  bestow  it  upon  us. 
The  life  of  our  bodies  he  in  his  mercy  keeps  up,  al- 
though we  forget  him  ; the  life  of  our  souls  he  will 
not  keep  up  ; therefore,  for  the  sake  of  our  spirits 
even  more  than  of  our  bodies,  we  must  live  by  faith. 
If  we  wish  to  be  loving,  pure,  wise,  manly,  noble*  we 


GOD,  THE  FATHER . 


I 2 I 


must  ask  those  excellent  gifts  of  God,  who  is  himself 
infinite  love  and  purity,  wisdom  and  nobleness. 

XCVII. 

Our  Father  — whenever  you  think  of  your  duty 
to  God  or  man,  think  but  of  those  two  words.  Re- 
member that  all  duty  is  duty  to  a Father — your 
Father — -and  such  a Father!  Who  gave  his  only 
begotten  Son  to  die  for  you,  who  showed  what  he 
was  in  that  Son  — full  of  goodness,  perfectly  mer- 
ciful, perfectly  just  ; and  then  you  will  not  be  inclined 
to  ask  how  little  obedience,  how  little  love,  how  little 
service,  he  will  allow  you  to  pay  him ; but  how  much 
he  will  help  you  to  pay  him.  Then  you  will  feel 

that  his  service  is  perfect  freedom,  because  it  is  ser- 
vice to  a Father  who  loves  you,  and  will  help  you 

to  do  his  will.  Then  you  will  feel  that  his  com- 

mandments are  not  grievous,  because  they  are  a 
Father’s  commandments,  because  you  are  bound  to 
do  them,  not  by  dread  and  superstition,  but  by  grati- 
tude, honor,  affection,  respect,  trust.  Then  you  will 
not  be  thinking  of  what  punishment  will  come  if  you 
disobey  — no,  nor  of  what  reward  will  come  if  you 
obey  — but  you  will  be  thinking  of  the  commandment 
itself,  and  how  to  carry  it  out  most  perfectly,  and 
let  the  consequences  take  care  of  themselves,  because 
you  know  that  your  Father  takes  care  of  them ; that 


122 


LIVING  TRUTHS. 


he  loves  you,  and  therefore  what  he  commands  must 
"be  good  for  you,  utterly  the  best  thing  for  you ; that 
he  only  gives  you  a commandment  because  it  is  good 
for  you ; that  you  are  made  in  God’s  image,  and 
therefore  God’s  will  must  be  for  you  the  path  of  life, 
the  only  rule  by  which  you  can  prosper  now  and 
forever. 

XCVIII. 

When  we  are  most  calm,  most  humble,  most  free 
from  ill-temper  and  self-conceit,  most  busy  about 
our  rightful  work,  then  the  feeling  comes  over  us  — 
I have  a Father  in  heaven.  And  that  feeling  gives 
us  a strength,  a peace,  a sure  trust  and  hope  which 
no  other  thought  can  give.  Yes,  we  are  ready  to  say, 
I may  be  miserable  and  unfortunate,  but  the  great 
God  of  heaven  and  earth  is  my  Father;  and  what 
can  happen  to  me  ? I may  be  borne  down  with  the 
remembrance  of  my  great  sins  ; I may  find  it  almost 
too  hard  to  fight  against  all  my  bad  habits ; but 
the  great  God  who  made  heaven  and  earth  is  my 
Father  .and  I am  his  son.  He  will  forgive  me  for 
the  past ; he  will  help  me  to  conquer  for  the  future. 
If  I do  but  remember  that  I am  God’s  son,  and  claim 
my  Father’s  promises,  neither  the  world,  nor  the 
devil,  nor  my  own  sinful  flesh  can  ever  prevail  against 


me. 


GOD,  THE  SON. 


12  3 


XCIX. 

Christ  is  the  likeness  of  his  Father’s  glory,  and 
the  express  image  of  his  person  ; perfect  as  his 
Father  is  perfect;  like  his  Father,  he  causeth  his 
rain  to  fall  on  the  evil  and  the  good  ; and  his  sun  to 
shine  on  the  just  and  on  the  unjust;  and  is  good 
to  the  unthankful  and  the  evil  — to  you  and  me  — 
and  knows  us,  though  we  know  him  not ; and  cares 
for  us,  though  we  care  not  for  him  ; and  leads  us 
his  way  like  a good  shepherd,  when  we  fancy  in  our 
conceit  that  we  are  going  in  our  own  way.  This  is 
our  hope,  that  his  love  is  greater  than  our  stupidity ; 
that  he  will  not  tire  of  us  and  our  fancies,  and  our 
self-will,  and  our  laziness,  in  spite  of  all  our  peevish 
tempers,  and  our  mean  and  fruitless  suspicions  ot 
his  goodness.  No  ! He  will  not  tire  of  us,  but  will 
seek  us  and  save  us  when  we  go  astray.  And  some 
day,  somewhere,  somehow,  he  will  open  our  eyes, 
and  let  us  see  him  as  he  is,  and  thank  him  as  he 
deserves.  Some  day,  when  the  veil  is  taken  off  our 
eyes,  we  shall  see  like  those  disciples  at  Emmaus, 
that  Jesus  has  been  walking  with  us,  and  breaking 
our  bread  for  us,  and  blessing  us  all  our  lives  long; 
and  that  when  our  hearts  burned  within  us  at  noble 
thoughts  and  stories  of  noble  and  righteous  men 
and  women,  and  at  the  hope  that  some  day  good 
would  conquer  evil,  and  heaven  come  down  on  earth, 


124 


LIVING  TRUTHS. 


then  - — so  we  shall  find  — God  had  been  dwelling 
among  men  all  along  — even  Jesus,  who  was  dead 
and  is  alive  for  evermore,  and  has  the  keys  of  death 
and  hell,  and  knows  his  sheep  in  this  world  and 
in  all  worlds,  past,  present  and  to  come,  and  leads 
them,  and  will  lead  them  forever,  and  none  can 
pluck  them  out  of  his  hand. 

C. 

Father  and  Son ! Let  philosophers  and  divines 
discover  what  they  may  about  God,  they  will  never 
discover  any  thing  so  deep  as  the  wonder  which 
lies  in  these  two  words,  Father  and  Son.  So  deep, 
and  yet  so  simple ! So  simple,  that  the  wayfaring 
man,  though  poor,  shall  not  err  therein.  “Who  is 
God  ? What  is  God  like  ? Where  shall  we  find  him, 
or  his  likeness  ? ” So  has  mankind  been  crying  in 
all  ages,  and  getting  no  answer,  or  making  answers 
for  themselves  in  all  sorts  of  superstitions,  idola- 
tries, false  philosophies.  And  then  the  Gospel  comes, 
and  answers  to  every  man,  to  every  poor  and  un- 
learned laborer:  Will  you  know  the  name  of  God? 
It  is  a Father,  a Son,  and  a Holy  Spirit  of  love, 
joy,  peace ; a spirit  of  perfect  satisfaction  of  the 
Father  in  the  Son,  and  perfect  satisfaction  of  the  Son 
with  the  Father,  which  proceeds  from  both  the  Father 
and  the  Son.  It  needs  no  scholarship  to  understand 


GOD,  THE  SON. 


125 


that  name;  every  one  may  understand  it  who  is  a 
good  father;  every  one  may  understand  it  who  is  a 
good  son,  who  looks  up  to  and  obeys  his  father  with 
that  filial  spirit  of  love,  and  obedience,  and  satis- 
faction with  his  father’s  will,  which  is  the  likeness 
of  the  Holy  Spirit  of  God,  and  can  only  flourish  in 
any  man  by  the  help  of  the  Holy  Spirit,  which  pro- 
ceeds from  the  Father  and  the  Son. 

Father  and  Son  ! what  more  beautiful  words  are 
there  in  the  world  ? What  more  beautiful  sight  is 
there  in  the  world  than  a son  who  really  loves  his 
father,  really  trusts  his  father,  really  does  his  duty 
to  his  father,  really  looks  up  to  and  obeys  his 
father’s  will  in  all  things?  Who  is  ready  to  sacri- 
fice his  own  credit,  his  own  pleasure,  his  own  success 
in  life,  for  the  sake  of  his  father’s  comfort  and 
honor?  How  much  more  fair  and  noble  must  be 
the  love  and  trust  which  is  between  God  the  Father 
and  God  the  Son ! 


CI. 

Read  how  the  Father  loves  the  Son,  and  gives  all 
things  into  his  hand,  and  commits  all  judgment  to 
the  Son,  and  gives  him  power  to  have  life  in  him- 
self, even  as  the  Father  has  life  in  himself,  and 
shows  him  all  things  that  himself  doeth,  that  all 
men  may  honor  the  Son  even  as  they  honor  the 


126 


LIVING  TRUTHS. 


Father.  Read  how  the  Son  came  only  to  show  forth 
his  Father’s  glory ; to  be  the  brightness  of  his  glory, 
and  the  express  image  of  his  person ; to  establish  his 
Father’s  kingdom  ; to  declare  the  goodness  of  his 
Father’s  name,  which  is  the  Father.  How  he  does 
nothing  of  himself,  but  only  what  he  sees  his  Father 
do;  how  he  seeks  not  his  own  will,  but  the  will  of 
the  Father  who  sent  him;  how  he  sacrificed  all,  yea, 
even  his  most  precious  body  and  soul  upon  the 
cross,  to  finish  the  work  which  his  Father  gave  him 
to  do.  How,  being  in  the  form  of  God,  and  think- 
ing it  no  robbery  to  be  equal  with  God,  he  could 
boldly  say,  “As  the  Father  knoweth  me,  even  so 
know  I the  Father.  I and  my  Father  are  one;” 
and  still,  in  the  fulness  of  his  filial  love  and  obedi- 
ence, declared  that  he  had  no  will,  no  wish,  no 
work,  no  glory,  but  his  Father’s;  and  in  the  hour 
of  his  agony  cried  out,  “ Father,  if  it  be  possible, 
let  this  cup  pass  from  me;  nevertheless,  not  my  will, 
but  thine  be  done.” 


CII. 

We’ll  talk  of  Christ ; 

We  shall  go  mad  with  thinking  of  ourselves  — 
We’ll  talk  of  him,  and  of  that  new-made  star, 
Which,  as  he  stooped  into  the  Virgin’s  side, 
From  off  his  finger,  like  a signet  gem, 


GOD,  THE  SPIRIT 


I27 


He  dropped  in  the  empyrean  for  a sign. 

But  the  first  tear  he  shed  at  his  birth-hour, 

When  he  crept  weeping  forth  to  see  our  woe, 

Fled  up  to  Heaven  in  mist,  and  hid  forever 
Our  sins,  our  works,  and  that  same  new-made  star. 

CIII, 

When  you  hear  of  a noble  action,  is  there  nothing 
in  you  which  makes  you  approve  and  admire  it  ? Is 
there  nothing  in  your  hearts  which  makes  you  pity 
those  who  are  in  sorrow,  and  long  to  help  them  ? 
Nothing  which  stirs  your  heart  up  when  you  hear 
of  a man’s  nobly  doing  his  duty,  and  dying  rather 
than  desert  his  post,  or  do  a wrong  or  mean  thing  ? 
Surely  there  is,  surely  there  is. 

Then,  when  those  feelings  come  into  your  hearts, 
rejoice  with  trembling,  as  men  to  whom  God  has 
given  a great  and  precious  gift.  For  they  are  none 
other  than  the  Spirit  of  the  Son  of  God,  striving 
with  your  hearts  that  he  may  form  Christ  in  you, 
and  raise  up  your  hearts  to  cry  with  full  faith  to 
God,  “ My  Father  which  art  in  heaven!’’ 

CIV. 

But  where  is  the  Holy  Spirit?  There  is  no 
where  for  spirits.  All  that  we  can  say  is,  that  the 
Holy  Spirit  is  proceeding  forever  from  the  Father 


128 


LIVING  TRUTHS. 


and  the  Son ; going  forth  forever,  to  bring  light 
and  life,  righteousness  and  love,  to  all  worlds,  and 
to  all  hearts  who  will  receive  him.  The  lamps  of 
fire  which  St.  John  saw,  the  dove  which  came 
down  at  Christ’s  baptism,  the  cloven  tongues  of  fire 
which  sat  on  the  apostles  — these  were  signs  and 
tokens  of  the  Spirit ; but  they  were  not  the  Spirit 
itself.  Of  the  Spirit  it  is  written,  “ It  bloweth 
where  it  listeth,  and  thou  hearest  the  sound  thereof,  but 
canst  not  tell  whence  it  cometh  or  whither  it  goeth.” 

It  is  enough  for  us  that  it  is  the  Holy  Spirit, 
the  Spirit  of  the  Holy  Father,  and  of  the  Holy 
Son  ; like  them  eternal,  like  them  incomprehensible, 
like  them  almighty,  like  them  all-wise,  all-just,  all- 
loving,  merciful,  faithful,  and  true  forever. 

CV. 

If  you  have  the  divine  thirst,  it  will  be  surely 
satisfied.  If  you  long  to  be  better  men  and  women, 
you  will  surely  be.  Only  be  true  to  those  higher 
instincts ; only  do  not  learn  to  despise  and  quench 
that  divine  thirst ; only  struggle  on,  in  spite  of 
mistakes,  of  failures,  even  of  sins  — for  every  one 
of  which  last  your  Heavenly  Father  will  chastise 
you,  even  while  he  forgives  ; in  spite  of  all  falls, 
struggle  on.  Blessed  are  you  that  hunger  and 
thirst  after  righteousness,  for  you  shall  be  filled. 


GOD , THE  SPIRIT 


129 


To  you  — and  not  in  vain  — “The  Spirit  and  the 
Bride  say,  Come.  And  let  him  that  heareth  say,  Come. 
And  let  him  that  is  athirst  come.  And  whoso- 
ever will,  let  him  drink  of  the  water  of  life  freely.” 

CVL 

If  justice  and  honesty  be  God’s  likeness,  who 
made  us  like  God  in  this — who  put  into  us  this 
sense  of  justice  which  all  have,  though  so  few 
obey  it  ? Can  man  make  himself  like  God  ? Can 
a worm  ape  his  maker?  No.  From  God’s  Spirit, 
the  Spirit  of  Right,  came  this  inborn  feeling  of 
justice,  this  knowledge  of  right  and  wrong,  to  us 
— part  of  the  image  of  God  in  which  he  created 
man  — part  of  the  breath  or  spirit  of  life  which  he 
breathed  into  Adam.  Do  not  mistake  me.  I do 
not  say  that  the  sense,  and  honesty,  and  love  in 
us,  are  God’s  Spirit  — they  are  the  spirit  of  man ; 
but  that  they  are  like  God’s  Spirit,  and  therefore 
must  be  given  us  by  God’s  Spirit,  to  be  used  as  God’s 
Spirit  himself  uses  them.  How  a man  shall  have 
his  share  of  God’s  Spirit,  and  live  in  and  by 
God’s  Spirit,  is  another  question,  and  a higher  and 
more  blessed  one ; but  we  must  master  this  ques- 
tion first  — we  must  believe  that  our  spirits  come 
from  God,  then,  perhaps,  we  shall  begin  to  see 
that  our  spirits  never  can  work  well  unless  they  are 


1 3° 


LIVING  TRUTHS . 


joined  to  the  Spirit  of  God,  from  whom  they  came. 
CVII. 

Through  God’s  Spirit,  Christ  not  only  can,  but 
will,  give  you  light.  And  that  Spirit  is  near  you, 
with  you.  I will  not  say  you  do  not  know  how 
much  good  there  is  in  you ; for  in  us  dwells  no 
good  thing,  and  every  good  thought  and  feeling 
comes  only  from  the  Spirit  of  God : but  I will  say 
boldly  to  every  one  of  you,  you  do  not  know  how 
much  good  there  may  be  in  you  if  you  will  listen 
to  those  good  thoughts  of  God’s  Spirit ; you  do 
not  know  how  wise,  how  right,  how  strong,  how 
happy,  how  useful  you  may  become;  you  do  not 
know  what  a blessing  each  of  you  may  become  to 
yourselves  and  to  all  around  you.  Only  make  up 
your  mind  to  live  by  God’s  law ; only  make  up 
your  mind  in  all  things,  small  and  great,  to  go 
God’s  way,  and  not  your  own.  Only  make  up 
your  mind  to  listen,  not  to  your  own  flesh,  temper, 
and  brain,  which  say  this  and  that  is  pleasant, 
but  listen  to  God’s  Spirit  which  says  this  is  right, 
and  that  is  wrong : this  is  your  duty,  do  it. 

CVIII. 


He  who  goes  to  the  Bible  full  of  self-conceit 


THE  BIBLE . 


131 

and  selfishness,  wanting  the  Bible  to  tell  him  only 
just  what  he  likes  to  hear,  will  only  find  it  a 
sealed  book  to  him,  and  will  very  likely  wrest  the 
Scriptures  to  his  own  destruction.  Take  up  your 
Bible  humbly,  praying  to  God  to  show  you  its 
meaning,  whether  it  be  pleasant  to  you  or  not, 
and  then  you  will  find  that  God  will  show  you  a 
blessed  meaning  in  it ; He  will  open  your  eyes, 
that  you  may  understand  the  wondrous  things  of 
His  law ; he  will  show  you  how  to  try  the  spirit 
of  all  you  are  taught,  and  to  find  out  whether  it 
comes  from  God. 


CIX. 

Oh,  that  men  would  use  that  treasure  of  the 
Bible  as  it  deserves ; oh,  that  they  would  believe 
from  their  hearts,  that  whatever  is  said  there  is 
truly  said,  that  whatever  is  said  there  is  said  to 

them,  that  whatever  names  things  are  called  there 
are  called  by  their  right  names.  Then  men  would 

no  longer  call  the  vile  person  beautiful,  or  call 

pride  and  vanity  honor,  or  covetousness  respecta- 

bility, or  call  sin  worldly  wisdom  ; but  they  would 
call  things  as  Christ  calls  them  — they  would  try 
to  copy  Christ’s  thoughts  and  Christ’s  teaching ; 
and  instead  of  looking  for  instruction  and  comfort 
to  lying  opinions  and  false  worldly  cunning,  they 


I32 


LIVING  TRUTHS. 


would  find  their  only  advice  in  the  blessed  teach- 
ing, and  their  only  comfort  in  the  gracious  prom- 
ises, of  the  word  of  the  Book  of  Life. 

CX. 

Do  not  fancy,  as  too  many  do,  that  thou  canst 
praise  God  by  singing  hymns  to  him  in  church 
once  a week,  and  disobeying  him  all  the  week 
long,  crying  to  him,  “Lord,  Lord ! ” and  then  liv- 
ing as  if  he  were  not  thy  Lord,  but  thou  wast 
thine  own  Lord,  and  hadst  a right  to  do  thine 
own  will  and  not  his.  If  thou  wilt  really  bless 
God,  then  try  to  live  his  blessed  life  of  goodness. 
If  thou  wilt  truly  praise  God,  then  behave  as  if 
God  was  praiseworthy,  good,  and  right  in  what  he 
bids  thee  do.  If  thou  wouldst  really  magnify  God, 
and  declare  his  greatness,  then  behave  as  if  he 
were  indeed  the  great  God  who  ought  to  be 
obeyed  — ay,  who  must  be  obeyed ; for  his  com- 
mandment is  life,  and  it  alone,  to  thee,  as  well 
as  to  all  which  he  has  made.  Dost  thou  fancy,  as 
the  heathen  do,  that  God  needs  to  be  flattered 
with  fine  words  ? or  that  thou  wilt  be  heard  for 
thy  much  speaking,  and  thy  vain  repetitions  ? He 
asks  of  thee  works  as  well  as  words;  and  more, 
he  asks  of  thee  works  first,  and  words  after.  And 
better  it  is  to  praise  him  truly  by  works  without 


WORSHIP, 


i33 


words,  than  falsely  by  words  without  works. 

Cry,  if  thou  wilt,  “ Holy,  Holy,  Holy,  Lord  God 
of  Hosts ; but  show  that  thou  believest  him  to 
be  holy  by  being  holy  thyself.  Sing,  if  thou  wilt, 
of  “ The  Father  of  an  Infinite  Majesty ; ” but 
show  that  thou  believest  his  majesty  to  be  infinite 
by  obeying  his  commandments,  let  them  cost  thee 
what  they  may.  Join,  and  join  freely,  in  the  songs 
of  the  heavenly  host ; for  God  has  given  thee 
reason  and  speech,  after  the  likeness  of  his  only 
begotten  Son,  and  thou  mayest  use  them,  as  well 
as  every  other  gift,  in  the  service  of  thy  Father. 
But  take  care  lest,  while  thou  art  trying  to  copy 
the  angels,  thou  art  not  even  as  righteous  as  the 
beasts  of  the  field.  For  they  bless  and  praise 
God  by  obeying  his  laws ; and  till  thou  dost  that, 
and  obeyest  God’s  laws  likewise,  thou  art  not  as 
good  as  the  grass  beneath  thy  feet. 

For  after  all  has  been  said  and  sung,  my  friends, 
the  sum  and  substance  of  true  religion  remains  what 
it  was  and  what  it  will  be  forever ; and  lies  in 
this  one  word : “ If  ye  love  Me,  keep  my  corn- 

man  dments.” 


CXI. 


If  you  believe  in  your  “ Heavenly  Father,”  the  good 
God  whom  your  Lord  Jesus  Christ  has  revealed  to 


134 


LIVING  TRUTHS. 


you  ; and  if  you  will  consider  that  he  is  good,  and 
consider  what  that  word  good  means,  then  you  will 
not  have  far  to  seek  before  you  find  what  worship 
means,  and  how  you  can  worship  him  in  spirit  and 
in  truth. 

For  if  God  be  good,  worshipping  him  must  mean 
praising  and  admiring  him  — adoring  him,  as  we 
call  it — for  being  good. 

And  nothing  more  ? Certainly  much  more.  Also 
to  ask  him  to  make  us  good.  That,  too,  must  be  a 
part  of  worshipping  a good  God.  For  the  very  prop- 
erty of  goodness  is,  that  it  wishes  to  make  others 
good.  And  if  God  be  good,  he  must  wish  to  make 
us  good  also. 

To  adore  God,  then,  for  his  goodness,  and  to  pray 
to  him  to  make  us  good,  is  the  sum  and  substance 
of  all  wholesome  worship.  And  for  that  purpose  a 
man  may  come  to  church,  and  worship  God  in  spirit 
and  in  truth,  though  he  be  dissatisfied  with  himself, 
and  ashamed  of  himself,  and  knows  that  he  is  wrong 
in  many  things  — provided  always  that  he  wishes  to 
be  set  right,  and  made  good. 

CXII. 

Human  nature  is  made,  so  the  Bible  tells  us,  in 
some  mysterious  way,  after  the  likeness  of  God; 
of  Christ,  the  eternal  son  of  man,  who  is  in  heaven ; 


HUMAN  NATURE. 


J35 


for  the  Bible  speaks  of  the  word  or  voice  of  God 
as  appearing  to  man  in  something  of  a human  voice  ; 
reasoning  with  him  as  man  reasons  with  man  ; and 
feeling  toward  him  human  feelings.  That  is  the 
doctrine  of  the  Bible,  of  David  and  the  prophets, 
just  as  much  as  of  Genesis  or  of  St.  Paul. 

That  is  a great  mystery  and  a great  glory ; but 
that  alone  could  not  make  man  good,  could  not 
even  keep  him  alive. 

For  God  made  man  for  something  more  noble 
and  blessed  than  to  follow  even  his  own  lofty  human 
nature.  God  made  the  animals  to  follow  their  natures 
each  after  its  kind,  and  to  do  each  what  it  liked  with- 
out sin.  But  he  made  man  to  do  more  than  that,  to 
do  more  than  what  he  likes , namely,  to  do  what  he 
ought.  God  made  man  to  love  him,  to  obey  him, 
to  copy  him,  by  doing  God’s  will,  and  living  God’s 
life,  lovingly,  joyfully,  and  of  his  own  free  will,  as  a 
son  follows  the  father  whose  will  he  delights  to  do. 

CXIII. 

Think  of  what  you  say  when  you  say,  “I  am  a 
man.”  Remember  that  you  are  claiming  for  your- 
selves the  very  highest  honor  — an  honor  too  great 
to  make  you  proud  ; an  honor  so  great  that,  if  you 
understand  it  rightly,  it  must  fill  you  with  awe,  and 
trembling,  and  the  spirit  of  godly  fear,  lest,  when 


136 


LIVING  TRUTHS. 


God  has  put  you  up  so  high,  you  should  fall  shame- 
fully again.  For  the  higher  the  place,  the  deeper  the 
fall  ; and  the  greater  the  horror,  the  greater  the  shame 
of  losing  it. 


CXIV. 

God  made  us,  and  if  the  Bible  be  true,  there  must 
be  good  in  us.  When  God  said,  Let  that  man  be ; 
when  God  first  thought  of  us,  if  I may  so  speak, 
before  the  foundation  of  the  world  — he  thought  of 
us  as  good.  He  created  each  of  us  good  in  his 
own  mind,  else  he  would  not  have  created  us  at 
all.  But  why  were  we  not  good  when  we  came 
on  earth  ? Why  do  we  come  into  this  world  sin- 
ful ? Why  does  God’s  thought  of  us,  God’s  purpose 
about  us,  seem  to  have  failed  ? We  do  not  know, 
and  we  need  not  know..  St.  Paul  tells  us  that  it 
came  by  Adam’s  fall ; that  by  Adam’s  fall  sin 
entered  into  the  world,  and  each  man,  as  he  came 
into  it,  became  sinful.  How  that  was  we  can- 
not understand  — we  need  not  understand.  Let 
us  believe  and  be  silent ; but  let  us  believe  this 
also,  that  St.  Paul  speaks  truth  not  in  this  only, 
but  in  that  blessed  and  glorious  news  with  which 
he  follows  up  his  sad  and  bad  news.  “ As  by  the 
offense  of  one,  judgment  came  upon  all  men  to 
condemnation;  even  so  by  the  righteousness  of  one, 


HUMAN  NATURE. 


*37 


the  free  gift  came  upon  all  men  to  justification  of 
life.^ 

Yes;  we  may  say  boldly  now,  whatever  has 
been ; whatever  sin  I inherited  from  Adam ; how- 
ever sinful  I came  into  this  world,  God  looks  on 
me  now,  not  as  I am  in  Adam,  but  as  I am  in 
Christ.  I am  in  Christ  now,  baptized  into  Christ, 
a new  creature  in  Christ;  To  Christ  I belong, 
and  not  to  Adam  at  all ; and  God  looks  now,  not 
on  the  old  corrupt  nature  which  I inherited  from 
Adam,  but  on  the  new  and  good  grace  which  God 
meant  for  me  from  all  eternity,  which  Christ  has 
given  me  now.  It  is  that  good  and  new  grace  in 
me  which  God  cares  for;  it  is  that  good  and 
new  grace  which  God  is  working  on,  to  strengthen 
and  perfect  it,  that  I may  grow  in  grace,  and  in 
the  likeness  of  Christ,  and  become  at  last  what 
God  intended  me  to  be,  when  he  thought  of  me 
first  before  the  foundation  of  all  worlds,  and  said, 
“ Let  us  make  man  (not  one  man,  but  all  men, 
male  and  female)  in  our  image,  after  our  like- 
ness.n 

cxv. 

All  which  is  good  in  you  God  has  made,  and 
he  will  take  care  of  what  he  has  made,  for  he 
loves  it.  Ail  which  is  bad  in  you,  God  has  not 


LIVING  TRUTHS. 


133 

made,  and  therefore  he  will  destroy  it,  for  he  hates 
all  that  he  has  not  made,  and  will  not  suffer  it 
in  his  world;  and  if  you,  your  heart,  your  will, 
are  enlisted  on  the  good  side,  if  you  are  wishing 
and  trying  that  the  good  nature  in  you  should 
conquer  the  bad,  then  you  are  on  the  side  of  God 
himself,  and  God  himself  is  on  your  side ; and 
“ if  God  be  for  us,  who  shall  be  against  us  ? ” 
Take  courage,  then.  If  thou  dislikest  thy  sins, 
so  does  God.  If  thou  art  fighting  against  thy  worst 
feelings,  so  is  God.  On  thy  side  is  God  who  made 
all,  and  Christ  who  died  for  all,  and  the  Holy 
Spirit  who  alone  gives  wisdom,  purity,  nobleness. 
How  canst  thou  fail  when  he  is  on  thy  side  ? On 
thy  side  are  all  spirits  of  just  men  made  perfect, 
all  wise  and  good  souls  and  persons  in  earth  and 
heaven,  all  good  and  wholesome  influences,  whether 
of  nature  or  of  grace,  of  matter  or  of  mind.  How 
canst  thou  fail  if  they  are  on  thy  side  ? God,  I 
say,  and  all  that  God  has  made,  are  working  to- 
gether to  bring  true  of  thee  the  word  of  God  — 
“ And  God  saw  all  that  he  had  made,  and  behold 
it  was  very  good.”  Believe,  and  endure  to  the 
end,  and  thou  shalt  be  found  in  Christ  at  the  last 
day;  and  being  in  Christ,  have  thy  share  at  last  in 
the  blessing  which  the  Father  pronounces  everlastingly 
on  Christ,  and  on  the  members  of  Christ,  “ This 
is  my  beloved  Son,  in  whom  I am  well  pleased.” 


HUMAN  NATURE . 


i39 


CXVI. 

If  we  are  selfish,  and  take  care  only  of  ourselves, 
the  clay  will  come  when  our  neighbors  will  leave  us 
alone  in  our  selfishness  to  shift  for  ourselves.  If  we 
set  out  determining  through  life  to  care  about  our- 
selves rather  than  other  people,  then  they  will  care 
for  themselves  more  than  for  us,  and  measure  their 
love  to  us  by  our  measure  of  love  to  them.  But  if 
we  care  for  others,  they  will  learn  to  care  for  us ; 
if  we  befriend  others,  they  will  befriend  us.  If  we 
show  forth  the  spirit  of  God  to  them,  in  kindliness, 
generosity,  patience,  self-sacrifice,  the  day  will  surely 
come  when  we  shall  find  that  the  Spirit  of  God  is 
in  our  neighbors  as  well  as  in  ourselves ; that  on 
the  whole  they  will  be  just  to  us,  and  pay  us  what 
we  have  deserved  and  earned.  Blessed  and  com- 
fortable thought,  that  no  kind  word,  kind  action, 
not  even  the  cup  of  cold  water  given  in  Christ’s 
name,  can  lose  its  reward.  Blessed  thought,  that, 
after  all  our  neighbors  are  our  brothers,  and  that  if 
we  remember  that  steadily,  and  treat  them  as  broth- 
ers now,  they  will  recollect  it,  too,  some  day,  and 
treat  us  as  brothers  in  return.  Blessed  thought, 
that,  there  is  in  the  heart  of  every  man  a spark  of 
God’s  light,  a grain  of  God’s  justice,  which  may  grow 
up  in  him  hereafter,  and  bear  good  fruit  to  eternal 
life. 


140 


LIVING  TRUTHS. 


CXVII. 

With  a closer  knowledge  of  our  fellow-creatures 
comes  toleration,  pity,  sympathy,  and  as  that  sympa- 
thy has  been  freely  obeyed,  it  has  justified  itself 
more  and  more.  The  more  we  have  tried  to  help 
our  fellow-men,  the  more  easy  we  have  found  it  to 
help  them.  The  more  we  have  trusted  them,  the 
more  trustworthy  we  have  found  them.  The  more 
we  have  treated  them  like  human  beings,  the  more 
humanity  we  have  found  in  them. 

And  thus  man,  in  proportion  as  he  becomes  mani- 
fest to  man,  is  seen,  in  spite  of  all  defects  and 
sins,  to  be  hallowed  with  a light  from  God  who 
made  him. 


CXVIII. 

Each  has  his  gift  — 

Our  souls  are  organ-pipes  of  diverse  stop 
And  various  pitch  ; each  with  its  proper  notes 
Thrilling  beneath  the  self-same  breath  of  God, 
Though  poor  alone,  yet  joined  they’re  harmony. 

CXIX. 

Every  man  has  his  gift,  and  the  tools  go  to  him 
that  can  use  them. 


SELFISHNESS . 


We  live  too  slow  — our  gummy  blood 
Without  fresh  purging  airs  from  heaven,  would  choke 
Slower  and  slower,  till  it  stopped  and  froze. 

God  ! fight  we  not  within  a cursed  world, 

Whose  very  air  teems  thick  with  leagued  fiends  ? — 
Each  word  we  speak  has  infinite  effects  * — 

Each  soul  we  pass  must  go  to  heaven  or  hell  — 

And  this  our  one  chance  through  eternity 
To  drop  and  die,  like  dead  leaves  in  the  brake, 
Or  like  the  meteor  stone,  though  whelmed  itself, 
Kindle  the  dry  moors  into  fruitful  blaze. 

Be  earnest,  earnest,  earnest ! Mad,  if  thou  wilt ; 

Do  what  thou  dost  as  if  the  stake  were  heaven, 
And  that  thy  last  deed  ere  the  judgment  day. 

CXXI. 

Oh,  my  friends,  whenever  we  are  tempted  to  be 
selfish  and  grasping,  be  sure  that  we  are  opening  a 
door  to  the  very  devil  of  hell  himself,  though  he 
may  look  so  smooth,  and  gentle,  and  respectable, 
that  perhaps  we  shall  not  know  him  when  he  comes 
to  us,  and  shall  take  his  counsels  for  the  counsel 
of  an  angel  of  light.  But  be  sure  that  if  it  is  selfish- 
ness which  has  opened  the  door  of  our  heart,  not 
God,  but  the  devil  will  come  in,  let  him  dis- 
guise himself  as  cunningly  as  he  will ; and  our 


142 


LIVING  TRUTHS. 


only  hope  is  to  flee  to  him  in  whom  there  was  no 
selfishness,  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  who  came  not  to 
do  his  own  will,  but  his  Father’s;  not  to  glorify 
himself,  but  his  Father;  not  to  save  his  own  life, 
but  to  sacrifice  it  freely,  for  us,  his  selfish,  weak, 
greedy,  wandering  sheep. 

CXXIL 

Nought  lives  for  self.  All,  all,  from  crown  to  foot- 
stool — 

The  Lamb,  before  the  world’s  foundations  slain  — 
The  angels,  ministers  to  God’s  elect  — 

The  sun,  who  only  shines  to  light  a world  — 

The  clouds,  whose  glory  is  to  die  in  showers  — 

The  fleeting  streams,  who,  in  their  ocean-graves, 

Flee  the  decay  of  stagnant  self-content  — 

The  oak,  ennobled  by  the  shipwright’s  axe  — 

The  soil,  which  yields  its  marrow  to  the  flower  — 
The  flower,  which  feeds  a thousand  velvet  worms, 
Born,  only  to  be  prey  for  every  bird  — 

All  spend  themselves  for  others  : and  shall  man, 
Earth’s  rosy  blossom  — image  of  his  God  — 

Whose  twofold  being  is  the  mystic  knot 
Which  couples  earth  and  heaven — doubly  bound 
As  being  both  worm  and  angel  to  that  service 
By  which  both  worms  and  angels  hold  their  life ; 
Shall  he,  whose  every  breath  is  debt  on  debt, 
Refuse,  without  some  hope  of  further  wage 


FAITH. 


143 


Which  he  calls  Heaven,  to  be  what  God  has  made 
him  ? 

No ! let  him  show  himself  the  creature’s  lord 

By  free-will  gift  of  that  self-sacrifice 

Which  they  perforce  by  Nature’s  law  must  suffer. 

CXXIII. 

The  desire  to  escape  pains  and  penalties  hereafter 
by  pains  and  penalties  here  ; the  balance  of  present 
loss  against  a future  gain  — what  is  this  but  selfish- 
ness extended  out  of  this  world  into  eternity  ? “ Not 

worldliness,”  indeed,  as  a satirist  once  said  with  bitter 
truth,  “but  other-worldliness.” 

CXXIV. 

All  that  men  ever  did  well,  or  nobly,  or  lovingly, 
in  this  world,  was  done  by  faith — by  faith  in  God 
of  some  sort  or  other ; even  in  the  man  who 
thinks  least  about  religion,  it  is  so.  Every  time  a 
man  means  to  do,  and  really  does  a just  or 
generous  action,  he  does  it  because  he  believes 
more  or  less  clearly  that  there  is  a just  and 
loving  God  above  him,  and  that  justice  and  love 
are  the  right  thing  for  a man  — the  law  by  which 
God  intended  him  to  walk  : so  that  this  small,  dim 
faith  still  shows  itself  in  practice ; and  the  more 


144 


LIVING  TRUTHS . 


faith  a man  has  in  God  and  in  God’s  laws,  the  more 
it  will  show  itself  in  every  action  of  his  daily  life ; 
and  the  more  this  faith  works  in  his  life  and 
conduct,  the  better  man  he  is ; — the  more  he  is 
like  God’s  image,  in  which  man  was  originally 
made;  — and  the  more  he  is  like  Christ,  the  new 
pattern  of  God’s  image,  whom  all  men  must  copy. 

cxxv. 

When  the  Bible  tells  us  that  we  can  do  nothing 
of  ourselves,  but  can  only  live  by  faith,  the  Bible 
puts  the  highest  honor  upon  us  which  any  created 
thing  can  have.  What  are  the  things  which  can- 
not live  by  faith?  The  trees  and  plants,  the  beasts 
and  birds,  which,  though  they  live  and  grow  by 
God’s  providence,  yet  do  not  know  it,  do  not  thank 
him,  cannot  ask  him  for  more  strength  and  life  as 
we  can,  are  mere  dead  tools  in  God’s  hands, 
instead  of  living  reasonable  beings  as  we  are.  It 
is  only  reasonable  beings,  like  men  and  angels, 
with  immortal  spirits  in  them,  who  can  live  by 
faith,  and  it  is  the  greatest  glory  and  honor  to  us, 
I say  again,  that  we  can  do  so  — that  the  glorious, 
infinite  God,  maker  of  heaven  and  earth,  should 
condescend  to  ask  us  to  be  loyal  to  him,  to  love 
him,  should  encourage  us  to  pray  to  him  boldly, 
and  then  should  condescend  to  hear  our  prayers, 


FAITH . 


MS 


we,  who  in  comparison  of  him,  are  smaller  than 
the  gnats  in  the  sunbeam  in  comparison  of 
men ! 


CXXVI. 

Instead  of  being  ashamed  of  being  able  to 

do  nothing  for  ourselves,  we  ought  to  rejoice  at 
having  God  for  our  Father  and  our  friend,  to 
enable  us  to  “do  all  things  through  him  who 

strengtheneth  us ,”  to  do  whatever  is  noble,  and 
loving,  and  worthy  of  true  men.  Instead,  then,  of 
dreaming  conceitedly  that  God  will  accept  us  for 
our  own  sakes,  let  us  just  be  content  to  be  accepted 
for  the  sake  of  Jesus  Christ  our  King.  Instead  of 
trying  to  walk  through  this  world  without  God’s 
help,  let  us  ask  God  to  help  and  guide  us  in 
every  action  of  our  lives,  and  then  go  manfully 
forward,  doing  with  all  our  might  whatsoever  our 

hands  or  our  hearts  see  right  to  do,  trusting  to 

God  to  put  us  in  the  right  path,  and  to  fill  our 

heads  with  right  thoughts  and  our  hearts  with 
right  feeling;  and  so  our  faith  will  show  itself  in 
our  works,  and  we  shall  be  justified  at  the  last 
day,  as  all  good  men  have  ever  been,  by  trust- 
ing to  our  Heavenly  Father,  and  to  the  Lord 

Jesus  Christ,  and  the  guidance  of  his  Holy 

Spirit. 


146 


LIVING  TRUTHS. 


CXXVII. 

Oh ! my  friends,  when  people  are  talking  about 
faith  and  works,  and  trying  to  reconcile  St  Paul 
and  St.  James,  as  they  call  it,  because  St.  Paul 
says,  Abraham  was  justified  by  faith,  and  St.  James 
says,  Abraham  was  justified  by  works,  if  they 
would  but  pray  for  the  simple,  childlike  heart,  and 
the  head  of  common  sense,  and  look  at  their  own 
children,  who,  every  time  they  go  on  a message 
for  them,  settle  without  knowing  it,  this  mighty 
difference  of  man's  making  between  faith  and 
works.  You  tell  a little  child  daily  to  do  many 
things  the  meaning  and  use  of  which  it  cannot 
understand;  and  the  child  has  faith  in  what  you 
tell  it;  and  therefore  it  does  what  you  tell  it; 
and  so  it  shows  its  faith  in  you  by  obedience  in 
working  for  you. 


CXXVIII. 

The  church-bells  were  ringing,  the  devil  sat  singing 
On  the  stump  of  a rotting  old  tree ; 

“ Oh  faith,  it  grows  cold,  and  the  creeds  they  grow 
old, 

And  the  world  is  nigh  ready  for  me." 

The  bells  went  on  ringing,  a spirit  came  singing, 
And  smiled  as  he  crumbled  the  tree; 


FAITH. 


147 


“Yon  wood  does  but  perish  new  seedlings  to  cherish, 
And  the  world  is  too  live  yet  for  thee.” 

CXXIX. 

We  must  not  expect  to  buy  God’s  favor  by  obey- 
ing him  — we  must  not  'expect  that  the  more  we 
do  for  God,  the  more  God  will  be  bound  to  do 
for  us,  as  the  Papists  do.  No ; God  has  done  for 
us  all  that  he  will  do.  He  has  promised  all  that 
he  will  promise.  He  has  provided  us  as  he  pro- 
vided Abraham,  a lamb  for  the  burnt-offering,  the 
Lamb  without  blemish  and  without  spot,  which  taketh 
away  the  sins  of  the  world.  We  are  his  redeemed 
people — we  have  a share  in  his  promises  — he  bids 
us  believe  that , and  show  that  we  believe  it  by  living 
as  redeemed  men,  not  our  own,  but  bought  with  a 
price,  and  created  anew  in  Christ  Jesus  to  do  good 
works ; not  that  we  may  buy  forgiveness  by  them, 
but  that  we  may  show  by  them  that  we  believe  that 
God  has  forgiven  us  already,  and  that  when  we  have 
done  all  that  is  commanded  us,  we  are  still  un- 
profitable servants ; for  though  we  should  give  up 
at  God’s  bidding  our  children,  our  wives,  and  our 
limbs  and  lives,  and  show  as  utter  faith  in  God, 
and  complete  obedience  to  God,  as  Abraham  did, 
we  should  only  have  done  just  what  it  was  already 
our  duty  to  do. 


148 


LIVING  TRUTHS. 


CXXX. 

One  word  of  warning  spoken  to  keep  a little 
child  out  of  sin,  one  crust  of  bread  given  to  a 
beggar  man  because  he  is  your  brother,  for  whom 
Christ  died,  one  angry  word  checked,  when  it  is 
on  your  lips,  for  the  sake  of  him  who  was  meek 
and  lowly  of  heart;  in  short,  any,  the  smallest 
endeavor  of  this  kind  to  lessen  the  quantity  of  evil 
which  is  in  yourselves,  and  in  those  around  you, 
is  worth  all  the  speculations,  and  raptures,  and 
visions,  and  frames,  and  feelings,  in  the  world ; for 
those  are  the  good  fruits  of  faith,  whereby  alone 
the  tree  shall  be  known  whether  it  be  good  or 
evil. 


CXXXI. 

I had  built  myself 

A Babel-tower,  whose  top  should  reach  to  heaven, 
Of  poor  men’s  praise  and  prayers,  and  subtile 
pride 

At  mine  own  alms.  ’Tis  crumbled  into  dust! 

Oh!  I have  leant  upon  an  arm  of  flesh  — 

And  here’s  its  strength!  I’ll  walk  by  faith  — by 
faith ! 

And  rest  my  weary  heart  on  Christ  alone  — 

On  him,  the  all-sufficient! 


HOPE. 


149 


CXXXII. 

As  I read  nature’s  parable,  I find  nothing  in  it  but 
hope.  What  if  there  be  darkness;  the  sun  will  rise 
to-morrow.  What  if  there  seems  a chaos ; the  great 
organic  world  is  still  living,  and  growing,  and  feeding, 
unseen  by  us,  all  the  black  night  through ; and 
every  phosphoric  atom  is  a sign  that  even  in  the 
darkest  night  there  is  still  the  power  of  light, 
ready  to  flash  out,  wherever  and  however  it  is 
stirred.  Does  the  age  seem  to  you  dark  ? Do  you 
feel  the  awful  sadness  of  that  text,  “The  time 
shall  come  when  ye  shall  desire  to  see  one  of  the 
days  of  the  Lord,  and  shall  not  see  it?”  Then 
remember  that 

“ The  night  is  never  so  long 
But  at  last  it  ringeth  for  matin  song.” 

And  even  so  it  is  in  the  world  of  men.  The  night 
is  peopled  not  merely  with  phantoms  and  wizards, 
superstitions  and  spirits  of  evil,  but  under  its 
shadow  all  sciences,  methods,  social  energies,  are 
taking  rest,  and  growing,  and  feeding,  unknown  to 
themselves,  that  they  may  awake  into  a new  life, 
and  intermarry,  and  beget  children  nobler  than 
themselves  when  “the  day-spring  from  on  high  comes 
down.”  Even  now,  see ! the  dawn  is  gilding  the 


LIVING  TRUTHS. 


IS° 

highest  souls,  and  we  are  in  the  night  only  because 
we  crawl  below.  What  if  we  be  unconscious  of  all 
the  living  energies  which  are  fermenting  round  us  ? 
Is  not  every  moorland  pool,  every  drop  of  the 
summer  sea,  alive  with  beautiful  organizations, 
multiplying  as  fast  as  the  thoughts  of  man  ? Is 
not  every  leaf  breathing,  every  sap  vein  drinking, 
though  we  may  not  see  them  ? “ Even  so  is  the 

kingdom  of  God ; like  seed  sown  in  the  ground ; 
and  men  rise,  and  lie  down  and  sleep ; and  it 
groweth  up  they  know  not  how. 

CXXXIII. 

Is  it  absolutely  demanded  that  no  poet  shall  say 
anything  whatsoever  that  any  other  poet  has  said? 
How  is  the  student  to  learn  except  by  copying 
his  master’s  models  ? Is  the  young  painter  or 
sculptor  a plagiarist  because  he  spends  the  first, 
often  the  best,  years  of  his  life  in  copying  Greek 
statues ; or  the  school-boy  for  toiling  at  the  re- 
production of  Latin  metres  and  images,  in  what 
are  honestly  and  fittingly  called  “ copies  ” of  verses? 
And  what  if  the  young  artist  shall  choose  to  put 
a few  drawings  into  the  exhibition,  or  to  carve  and 
sell  a few  statuettes?  What  if  the  schoolboy  grown 
into  a gownsman,  shall  contribute  his  share  to  a 
set  of  Ar undines  Cami  or  Prolusiones  Etonienses  ? Will 


poetry: 


151 

any  one  who  really  knows  what  art  or  education 
mean,  complain  of  them  for  having  imitated  their 
models  however  servilely  ? Will  he  not  rather  hail 
such  an  imitation  as  a fair  proof,  first  of  the  stu- 
dent’s reverence  for  authority  — a more  important 
element  of  “genius”  than  most  young  folks  fancy 
— and  next,  of  his  possessing  any  artistic  power 
whatsoever?  For  surely,  if  the  greater  contains  the 
less  the  power  of  creating  must  contain  that  of 
imitating.  A young  author’s  power  of  accurate  imi- 
tation is,  after  all,  the  primary  and  indispensable 
test  of  his  having  even  the  capability  of  becoming 
a poet.  He  who  cannot  write  in  a style  which  he 
does  know,  will  certainly  not  be  able  to  invent  a 
new  style  for  himself.  The  first  and  simplest  form 
in  which  any  metrical  ear,  or  fancy,  or  imagination 
can  show  itself,  must  needs  be  in  imitating  exist- 
ing models.  Innate  good  taste  — that  is,  true  poetic 
genius  — will,  of  course,  choose  the  best  models  in 
the  long  run.  But  not  necessarily  at  first.  What 
shall  be  the  student’s  earliest  ideal,  must  needs  be 
determined  for  him  by  circumstances,  by  the  books 
to  which  he  has  access,  by  the  public  opinion 
which  he  hears  expressed.  Enough  if  he  chooses 
the  best  models  which  he  knows,  and  tries  to  ex- 
haust them,  and  learn  all  he  can  from  them,  ready 
to  quit  them  hereafter,  when  he  comes  across  bet- 
ter ones,  yet  without  throwing  away  what  he  has 


*S2 


LIVING  TRUTHS. 


learned.  “ Be  faithful  in  a few  things,  and  thou 
shalt  become  ruler  over  many  things,”  is  one  of 
those  eternal  moral  laws  which,  like  many  others, 
holds  as  true  of  art  as  it  does  of  virtue. 

CXXXIV. 

Man  is  a poetry-writing  animal.  Perhaps  he  was 
meant  to  be  one.  At  all  events,  he  can  no  more 
be  kept  from  it  than  from  eating.  It  is  better, 
with  Mr.  Carlyle’s  leave,  to  believe  that  the  exist- 
ence  of  poetry  indicates  some  universal  human 
hunger,  whether  after  “the  beautiful,”  or  after 
“fame,”  or  after  the  means  of  paying  butchers’ 
bills ; and  accepting  it  as  a necessary  evil  which 
must  be  committed,  to  see  that  it  be  committed 
as  well,  or  at  least  as  little  ill  as  possible.  In 
excuse  of  which,  we  may  quote  Mr.  Carlyle  against 
himself,  reminding  him  of  a saying  of  Goethe’s  once 
bepraised  by  him  in  print:  “We  must  take  care 
of  the  beautiful,  for  the  useful  will  take  care  of 
itself.” 

cxxxv. 

Human  nature,  human  temptations,  human  prob- 
lems, are  radically  the  same  in  every  age,  by  what- 
soever outward  difference  of  words  they  may  seem 


POETRY. 


r53 


distinguished.  Where  is  deeper  philosophic  thought, 
true  or  false,  expressed  in  verse,  than  in  Dante, 
or  in  Spencer’s  two  cantos  of  Mutabilities  ? Yet, 
if  they  are  difficult  to  understand,  their  darkness 
is  that  of  the  dark,  blue  sea.  Vague  they  never 
are ; obscure  they  never  are ; because  they  see 
clearly  what  they  want  to  say,  and  how  to  say  it. 
There  is  always  a sound  and  coherent  meaning  in 
them,  to  be  found  if  it  be  searched  for. 

The  real  cause  of  modern  vagueness  is  to  be 
found  in  shallow  and  unsound  culture,  and  in  that 
inability,  or  carelessness  about  seeing  any  object 
clearly,  which  besets  our  poets  just  now ; as  the 
cause  of  antique  clearness  lies  in  the  nobler  and 

healthier  manhood,  in  the  severer  and  more  methodic 
habits  of  thought,  the  sounder  philosophic  and  criti- 
cal training,  which  enabled  Spencer  and  Milton  to 
draw  up  a state  paper  or  to  discourse  deep  meta- 
physics, with  the  same  manful  possession  of  their 

subject  which  gives  grace  and  completeness  to  the 
Tenser oso  or  the  Epithalamion ; and  if  our  poets 
have  their  doubts,  they  should  remember  that  those 
to  whom  doubt  and  inquiry  are  real  and  stern, 

are  not  inclined  to  sing  about  them  till  they  can 
sing  poems  of  triumph  over  them.  There  has  no 
temptation  taken  our  modern  poets,  save  that  which 
is  common  to  man  — the  temptation  of  wishing  to 
make  the  laws  of  the  universe  and  of  art  fit  them, 


1 54 


LIVING  TRUTHS. 


as  they  do  not  feel  inclined  to  make  themselves 
fit  the  laws,  or  care  to  find  them  out. 

CXXXVI. 

The  “ subjective  ” poet  — in  plain  words  the 
egotist  — is  always  comparing  himself  with  every 
man  he  meets,  and  therefore  momentarily  tempted 
to  steal  bits  of  their  finery  wherewith  to  patch  his 
own  rents,  while  the  man  who  is  content  to  be  simply 
what  God  has  made  him,  goes  on  from  strength 
to  strength,  developing  almost  unconsciously  under 
a divine  education,  by  which  his  real  personality 
and  salient  points  by  which  he  is  distinguished 
from  his  fellows,  become  apparent  with  more  and 
more  distinctness  of  form,  and  brilliance  of  light 
and  shadow,  as  those  well  know  who  have  watched 
human  character  attain  its  clearest  and  grandest  as 
well  as  its  loveliest  outlines,  not  among  hankerers 
after  fame  and  power,  but  on  lonely  sick-beds,  and 
during  long  unknown  martyrdom  of  humble  self- 
sacrifice  and  loving  drudgery. 

CXXXVII. 

What  man  wants,  what  art  wants,  perhaps  what 
the  maker  of  them  both  wants,  is  a poet  who 
shall  begin  by  confessing  that  he  is  as  other  men 


POETRY. 


*55 


are,  and  sing  about  things  which  concern  all  men, 
in  language  which  all  men  can  understand.  This 
is  the  only  road  to  that  gift  of  prophecy  which 
most  young  poets  are  nowadays  in  such  a hurry 
to  arrogate  to  themselves.  We  can  only  tell  what 
man  will  be  by  fair  induction,  by  knowing  what 
he  is,  what  he  has  been. 

And  it  is  most  noteworthy  that  in  this  age,  in 
which  there  is  more  knowledge  than  there  ever 
was  of  what  man  has  been,  and  more  knowledge, 
through  innumerable  novelists,  and  those  most  sub- 
tile and  finished  ones,  of  what  man  is,  that  poetry 
should  so  carefully  avoid  drawing  from  this  fresh 
stock  of  information  in  her  so-confident  horoscopes 
of  what  man  will  be. 

There  is,  just  now,  as  wide  a divorce  between 
poetry  and  the  common  sense  of  all  time,  as  there 
is  between  poetry  and  modern  knowledge.  Our 
poets  are  not  merely  vague  and  confused,  they 
are  altogether  fragmentary  — disjectamembra  poetarum . 
They  need  some  uniting  idea;  and  what  idea? 

Our  answer  will  probably  be  greeted  with  a 
laugh.  Nevertheless  we  answer  simply : What  our 
poets  want  is  faith. 

There  is  little  or  no  faith  nowadays,  and  with- 
out faith  there  can  be  no  real  art ; for  art  is  the 
outward  expression  of  firm  coherent  belief.  And  a 
poetry  of  doubt,  even  a skeptical  poetry,  in  its 


X56 


LIVING  TRUTHS. 


true  sense,  can  never  possess  clear  and  sound 
form,  even  organic  form  at  all.  How  can  you  put 
into  form  that  thought  which  is  by  its  very  nature, 
formless  ? How  can  you  group  words  round  a cen- 
tral idea,  when  you  do  not  possess  a central  idea? 
Shakespeare,  in  his  one  skeptic  tragedy,  has  to  de- 
sert the  pure  tragic  form,  and  “ Hamlet  ” remains 
the  beau-ideal  of  “ the  poetry  of  doubt.”  But  what 
would  a tragedy  be  in  which  the  actors  were  all 
Hamlets,  or  rather  scraps  of  Hamlets  ? A drama  of 
Hamlet  is  only  possible  because  the  one  skeptic  is 
surrounded  by  characters  who  have  some  positive 
faith,  who  do  their  work  for  good  or  evil  undoubt- 
ingly,  while  he  is  speculating  about  his.  And  both 
Ophelia  and  Laertes,  Fortinbras,  the  king,  yea,  the 
very  grave-digger,  know  well  enough  what  they  want, 
whether  Hamlet  does  or  not.  The  whole  play  is, 
in  fact,  Shakespeare’s  subtile  reductio  ad  absurdnm  of 
that  very  diseased  type  of  mind  which  has  been, 
for  the  last  forty  years,  identified  with  “ genius  ” 
— with  one  difference,  namely,  that  Shakespeare, 
with  his  usual  clearness  of  conception,  exhibits  the 
said  intellectual  type  pure  and  simple,  while  mod- 
ern poets  degrade  and  confuse  it,  and  degrade  and 
confuse  also,  all  the  questions  dependent  on  it,  by 
mixing  it  up,  and  unnecessarily,  too,  with  all 
manner  of  moral  weakness,  and  very  often  moral 


crimes. 


POETR  Y. 


*57 


CXXXVIII. 

Loose  concerts,  fancies  of  the  private  judgment, 
were  excusable  enough  in  the  Elizabethan  poets. 
In  their  day,  nature  was  still  unconquered  by  sci- 
ence ; mediaeval  superstitions  still  lingered  in  the 
minds  of  men  ; and  the  magical  notions  of  nature 
which  they  had  inherited  from  the  Middle  Age  re- 
ceived a corroboration  from  those  Neo  Platonist 
dreamers,  whom  they  confounded  with  the  true 
Greek  philosophers.  But,  now  that  Bacon  has 
spoken,  and  that  Europe  has  obeyed  him,  surely, 
among  the  most  practical,  common-sense  and  scien- 
tific nation  of  the  earth,  severely  scientific  imagery, 
imagery  drawn  from  the  inner  laws  of  nature,  is 
necessary  to  touch  the  hearts  of  men.  They  know 
that  the  universe  is  not  such  as  poets  paint  it ; 
they  know  that  these  pretty  thoughts  are  only  pretty 
thoughts,  springing  from  the  caprice,  the  vanity, 
very  often  from  the  indigestion  of  the  gentlemen 
who  take  the  trouble  to  sing  to  them ; and  they 
listen,  as  they  would  to  a band  of  street  musicians, 
and  give  them  sixpence  for  their  time,  and  go  on 
with  their  work. 

The  time  outside  has  nothing  to  do  with  the 
work  inside.  It  will  not  help  them  to  be  wiser, 
abler,  more  valiant  — certainly  not  more  cheerful  and 
hopeful  men,  and  therefore  they  care  no  more  for 


LIVING  TRUTHS. 


iS8 

it  than  they  do  for  an  opera  or  a pantomine,  if 
as  much.  Whereupon  the  poets  get  disgusted  with 
this  same  hard-hearted,  prosaic  world  — which  is  try- 
ing to  get  its  living  like  an  industrious  animal  as 
it  is  — and  demand  homage  — for  what  ? For  mak- 
ing a noise,  pleasant  or  otherwise  ? For  not  being 
as  other  men  are?  For  pleading  “the  eccentricities 
of  genius  ” as  an  excuse  for  sitting  like  naughty 
children  in  the  middle  of  the  schoolroom  floor,  in 
everybody’s  way,  shouting  and  playing  on  penny 
trumpets,  and  when  begged  to  be  quiet  that  other 
people  may  learn  their  lessons,  considering  them- 
selves insulted,  and  pleading  “ genius  ? ” Genius  ! 
— hapless  by-word,  which,  like  charity,  covers  nowa- 
days the  multitude  of  sins,  all  the  seven  deadly  ones 
included ! Is  there  any  form  of  human  folly  which 
one  has  not  heard  excused  by  “ he  is  a genius, 
you  know — one  must  not  judge  him  by  common 
rules.”  Poor  genius  — to  have  come  to  this! 

CXXXIX. 

While  young  gentlemen  are  talking  about  gov- 
erning heaven  and  earth  by  verse,  Wellingtons  and 
Peels,  Arkwrights  and  Stephensons,  Frys  and  Chis- 
holms, are  doing  it  by  plain,  practical  prose ; and 
even  of  those  who  have  moved  and  led  the  hearts 
of  men  by  verse,  every  one,  as  far  as  we  know, 


POETR  Y. 


*59 


has  produced  his  magical  effects  by  poetry  of  the 
very  opposite  form  to  that  which  is  now  in  fashion. 
What  poet  ever  had  more  influence  than  Homer  ? 
What  poet  is  more  utterly  antipodal  to  our  modern 
schools  ? There  are  certain  Hebrew  psalms,  too, 
which  will  be  confessed,  even  by  those  who  differ 
most  from  them,  to  have  exercised  some  slight  in- 
fluence on  human  thought  and  action,  and  to  be 
likely  to  exercise  the  same  for . some  time  to  come. 
Are  they  any  more  like  our  modern  poetic  forms 
than  they  are  like  our  modern  poetic  matter?  Ay, 
even  in  our  own  time,  what  has  been  the  form, 
what  the  temper,  of  all  poetry,  from  Korner  and 
Heine,  which  has  made  the  German  heart  leap  up, 
but  simplicity,  manhood,  clearness,  finished  melody, 
the  very  opposite,  in  a word,  of  our  new  school  ? 
And  to  look  at  home,  what  is  the  modern  poetry 
which  lives  on  the  lips  and  in  the  hearts  of  Eng- 
lishmen, Scotchmen,  Irishmen.  It  is  not  only  simple 
in  form  and  language,  but  much  of  it  fitted,  by  a 
severe  exercise  of  artistic  patience,  to  times  already 
existing.  Who  does  not  remember  how  the  Mar- 
seillaise was  born,  or  how  Burn’s  Scots,  wha  ha'e 
w ? Wallace  bled ’ or  the  story  of  Moore’s  taking 
the  old  Red  Fox  March  and  giving  it  new  im- 
mortality, as  Let  Erin  remember  the  days  of  old \ 
while  poor  Emmet  sprang  up  and  cried,  “ Oh,  that 
I had  twenty  thousand  Irishmen  marching  to  that 


i6o 


LIVING  TRUTHS. 


tune ! ” So  it  is,  even  to  this  day,  and  let  those 
who  hanker  after  poetic  fame  take  note  of  it ; not 
a poem  which  is  now  really  living,  but  has  gained 
its  immortality  by  virtue  of  simplicity  and  positive 
faith. 

CXL. 

Let  the  poets  of  the  new  school  consider  care- 
fully Wolfe’s  Sir  John  Moore , Campbell’s  Hohen- 
linden,  Mariners  of  England, , and  Rule , Britannia, 
Hood’s  Song  of  the  Shirt  and  Bridge  of  Sighs , and 
then  ask  themselves,  as  men  who  would  be  poets, 
were  it  not  better  to  have  written  any  one  of 
those  glorious  lyrics  than  all  which  John  Keats 
has  left  behind  him ; and  let  them  be  sure  that 
howsoever  they  may  answer  the  question  to  them- 
selves, the  sound  heart  of  the  English  people  has 
already  made  its  choice ; and  that  when  that 
beautiful  Hero  and  Leander  in  which  Hood  has 
outri vailed  the  conceit-mongers  at  their  own  weapons 
by  virtue  of  that  very  terseness,  clearness,  and 
manliness,  which  they  neglect,  has  been  gathered 
to  the  limbo  of  the  Crashawes  and  Marinos ; his 
Song  of  the  Shirt  and  his  Bridge  of  Sighs  will  be 
esteemed  by  great  new  English  nations,  far  beyond 
the  seas,  for  what  they  are  — two  of  the  most 
noble  lyric  poems  ever  written  by  an  English  pen. 


V- 


POETRY. 


161 


CXLI. 

The  poet,  I suppose,  must  be  a seer  as  long 
as  he  is  a worker,  and  a seer  only.  He  has  no 
time  to  philosophize  — to  “think  about  thinking,’5 
as  Goethe,  I have  somewhere  read,  says  that  he 
never  could  do.  It  is  too  often  only  in  sickness, 
and  prostration,  and  sheer  despair,  that  the  fierce 
voracity  and  swift  digestion  of  his  soul  can  cease, 
and  give  him  time  to  know  himself  and  God’s 
dealings  with  him ; and  for  that  reason  it  is  good 
for  him,  too,  to  have  been  afflicted. 

CXLIL 

Why  is  it  that  the  latest  poet  has  generally  the 
greatest  influence  over  the  minds  of  the  young  ? 
Surely  not  for  the  mere  charm  of  novelty? 

The  reason  is  that  the  poet  himself,  living  amid 
the  same  hopes,  the  same  temptations,  the  same 
sphere  of  observation  as  they,  gives  utterance 
and  outward  form  to  the  very  questions  which, 
vague  and  wordless,  have  been  exercising  their 
hearts. 


CXLIII. 


All  great  poets  are  by  their  office  democrats ; 


162 


LIVING  TRUTHS . 


seers  of  man  only  as  man;  singers  of  the  joys,  the 
sorrows,  the  aspirations  common  to  all  humanity ; but 
in  Alfred  Tennyson  there  is  an  element  especially 
democratic,  truly  levelling;  not  his  political  opinions, 
about  which  I know  nothing  and  care  less,  but 

his  handling  of  the  trivial  every-day  sights  and 
sounds  of  nature.  Brought  up,  as  I understand, 

in  a part  of  England  which  possesses  not  much 
of  the  picturesque,  and  nothing  of  that  which  the 
vulgar  call  sublime,  he  has  learnt  to  see  that  in 

all  nature,  in  the  hedgerow  and  the  sandbank,  as 

well  as  in  the  Alp  peak  and  the  ocean  waste,  is 

a world  of  true  sublimity  — a minute  infinite  — an 
ever-fertile  garden  of  poetic  images,  the  roots  of 
which  are  in  the  unfathomable  and  the  eternal,  as 

truly  as  any  phenomenon  which  astonishes  and 
awes  the  eye.  The  descriptions  of  the  desolate  pools 
and  creeks  where  the  dying  swan  floated,  the  tint  of 
the  silvery  marsh  morasses  by  Mariana’s  moat,  came 
to  me  like  revelations.  I always  knew  there  was 
something  beautiful,  wonderful,  sublime,  in  those 
flowery  dykes  of  Battersea  fields ; in  the  long, 
gravelly  sweeps  of  that  lone  tidal  shore ; and  here 
was  a man  who  put  them  into  words  for  me. 

And  surely  all  the  age  is  tending  in  that  direction  ; 
in  Landseer  and  his  dogs,  in  Fielding  and  his 

downs,  with  a host  of  noble  fellow-artists  — and  in 
all  authors  who  have  really  seized  the  nation’s  mind, 


POETRY, 


163 


from  Crabbe  and  Burns  and  Wordsworth,  to  Hood 
and  Dickens,  the  great  tide  sets  ever  onward,  out- 
ward, towards  that  which  is  common  to  the  many, 
not  that  which  is  exclusive  to  the  few  — towards  the 
likeness  of  Him  who  causes  his  rain  to  fall  on 
the  just  and  the  unjust,  and  his  sun  to  shine  on 

the  evil  and  the  good;  who  knoweth  the  cattle  upon 
a thousand  hills,  and  all  the  beasts  of  the  field  are 
in  his  sight. 

CXLIV. 

“ Ech ! ” said  Sandy  Mackave,  “ owre  young  to 
marry,  is  owre  young  to  write ; but  it’s  the  way 
o’  these  puir  distractit  times.  Nae  chick  can  find 
a grain  o’  corn,  but  oot  he  rins  cackling  wb  the 
shell  on  his  head,  to  tell  it  to  a’  the  warld,  as  if 

there  was  never  barley  grown  on  the  face  o’  the 

earth  before.  I wonder  whether  Isaiah  began  to 

write  before  his  beard  was  grown,  or  Dawvid 

either.  He  had  mony  a long  year  o’  shepherding, 
an’  moss-trooping,  an’  rugging,  an’  riving  i’  the 
wilderness,  I’ll  warrant,  afore  he  got  thae  gran’ 
lyrics  o’  his  oot  o’  him.  Ye  might  tak  example 
too,  gin  ye  were  minded,  by  Moses,  the  man  o’ 

God.  that  was  joost  forty  years  at  the  learning 
o’  the  Egyptians,  afore  he  thocht  gude  to  come 

forward  into  public  life,  an’  then  fun’  to  his  gran’ 


164 


LIVING  TRUTHS, 


surprise,  I warrant,  that  he’d  begun  forty  years  too 
sune — an’  then  had  forty  years  mair,  after  that, 
o’  inarching,  an’  law-giving,  an’  bearing  the  burdens 
o’  the  people,  before  he  turned  poet.” 

“Poet,  sir!”  exclaimed  Alton  Locke,  “I  never 
saw  Moses  in  that  light  before.” 

“Then  ye’ll  just  read  the  ninetieth  Psalm  — ‘The 
prayer  o’  Moses,  the  man  o’  God  ’ — the  grandest 
piece  o’  lyric,  to  my  taste,  that  I ever  heard  o’ 
on  the  face  o’  God’s  earth,  an’  see  what  a man 
can  write  that’ll  have  the  patience  to  wait  a 
century  or  twa  before  he  rins  to  the  publishers. 
I gie  ye  up  fra’  this  moment ; the  letting  out  o’ 
ink  is  like  the  letting  out  o’  waters,  or  the 
eating  o’  opium,  or  the  getting  up  at  public 
meetings  — when  a man  begins  he  canna  stop. 
There’s  nae  mair  enslaving  lust  o’  the  flesh  under 
the  heaven  than  that  same  furor  scribendi , as  the 
Latins  hae  it.” 


CXLV. 

Perhaps  the  only  way  to  write  songs  is  to  let 
some  air  get  possession  of  one’s  whole  soul,  and 
gradually  inspire  the  words  for  itself.  Just  as 
the  old  Hebrew  prophets  had  music  played  be- 
fore them  to  wake  up  the  true  prophetic  spirit  within 
them. 


POETRY. 


i65 


CXLVI. 

A poet,  especially  one  who  wishes  to  be  not 
merely  a describer  of  pretty  things,  but  a “Vater” 
and  seer  of  new  truth,  must  often  say  things  which 
other  people  do  not  like  to  say,  and  do  things 
which  others  do  not  like  to  do.  And,  moreover,  he 
will  be  generally  gifted,  for  the  very  purpose  of  enab- 
ling him  to  say  and  do  these  strange  things,  with 
a sensibility  more  delicate  than  common,  often  pain- 
ful enough  to  himself.  How  easy  for  such  a man 
to  think  that  he  has  a right  not  to  be  as  other 
men  are ; to  despise  little  conventionalities,  courte- 
sies, even  decencies ; to  offend  boldly  and  care- 
lessly, conscious  that  he  has  something  right  and 
valuable  within  himself,  which  not  only  atones  for 
such  defects,  but  allows  him  to  indulge  in  them, 
as  badges  of  his  own  superiority  ? 

This  has  been  the  notion  of  artistic  genius  which 
has  spread  among  us  of  late  years,  just  in  propor- 
tion as  the  real  amount  of  artistic  genius  has  dimin- 
ished ; till  we  see  men,  on  the  mere  ground  of  being 
literary  men,  too  refined  to  keep  accounts  or  pay 
their  butchers’  bills ; affecting  the  pettiest  absurdi- 
ties in  dress,  in  manner,  in  food  ; giving  themselves 
credit  for  being  unable  to  bear  a noise,  keep  their 
temper,  educate  their  own  children,  associate  with 
their  fellow-men ; and  a thousand  other  paltry  weak- 


LIVING  TRUTHS 


1 66 

nesses,  morosenesses,  self-inclulgences,  fastidiousnesses, 
vulgarities  — for  all  this  is  essentially  vulgar,  and 
demands  not  honor  and  sympathy,  but  a chapter 
in  Mr.  Thackeray’s  Book  of  Snobs . Non  sic  itur  ad 
astia.  Self-indulgence  and  exclusiveness  can  only  be 
a proof  of  weakness.  It  may  accompany  talent,  but 
it  proves  that  talent  to  be  partial  and  defective. 
The  brain  may  be  large,  but  the  manhood,  the 
“ virtus  ” is  small,  where  such  things  are  allowed, 
much  more  where  they  are  gloried  in.  A poet  such 
a man  may  be,  but  a world-poet  never. 

CXLVII. 

If  a poet  has  to  offend  the  prejudices  of  the 
world  in  important  things,  that  is  ail  the  more  rea- 
son for  his  bowing  to  those  prejudices  in  little 
things,  and  being  content  to  be  like  his  neighbors 
in  outward  matters  in  order  that  he  may  make 
them  like  himself  in  inward  ones.  Shall  such  a 
man  dare  to  hinder  his  own  message,  to  drive  away 
the  very  hearers  to  whom  he  believes  himself  to  be 
sent,  for  the  sake  of  his  own  nerves,  laziness,  an- 
tipathies, much  more  of  his  own  vanity  and  pride  ? 
If  he  does  so,  he  is  unfaithful  to  that  very  genius 
on  which  he  prides  himself.  He  denies  its  divinity 
by  treating  it  as  his  own  possession,  to  be  displayed 
or  hidden  as  he  chooses,  for  his  own  enjoyment, 


POETRY, 


167 


his  own  self-glorification.  Well  for  such  a man  if 
a day  comes  to  him  in  which  he  will  look  back 
with  shame  and  self-reproach,  not  merely  on  every 
scandal  which  he  may  have  caused  by  breaking  the 
moral  and  social  laws  of  humanity ; by  neglecting 
to  restrain  his  appetites,  pay  his  bills,  and  keep  his 
engagements ; but  also  on  every  conceited  word  and 
look,  every  gaucherie  and  rudeness,  every  self- 
indulgent  moroseness  and  fastidiousness,  as  sins 
against  the  sacred  charge  which  has  been  committed 
to  him  ; and  determines,  with  that  Jew  of  old,  who, 
to  judge  from  his  letter  to  Philemon,  was  one  of 
the  most  perfect  gentlemen  of  God’s  making  who 
ever  walked  this  earth,  to  become  “ all  things  to  all 
men,  if  by  any  means  he  may  save  some.” 

CXLVIII. 

“ You  a poet ! ” said  Sandy  to  Alton;  “true  poetry, 
like  true  charity,  my  laddie,  begins  at  hame.  If 
ye’ll  be  a poet  at  a’,  ye  maun  be  a cockney  poet ; 
and  while  the  cockneys  be  what  they  be,  ye  maun 
write,  like  Jeremiah  of  old,  o’  lamentation,  and  mourn- 
ing, and  woe,  for  the  sins  o’  your  people.  Gin  ye 
want  to  learn  the  spirit  o’  a people’s  poet,  down 
wi’  your  Bible  and  read  thae  auld  Hebrew  prophets : 
gin  ye  wad  learn  the  style,  read  your  Burns  frae 
morning  till  night ; and  gin  ye’d  learn  the  matter, 


LIVING  TRUTHS. 


1 68 

just  gang  after  your  nose,  and  keep  your  eyes 
open,  and  ye’ll  no  miss  it.” 

“But  all  this  is  so  — so  unpoetical.” 

“ Hech ! Is  there  no’  the  heeven  above  them 
there,  and  the  hell  beneath  them  ? and  God  frown- 
ing, and  the  deevil  grinning?  No  poetry  there.  Is 
no’  the  verra  idea  of  the  classic  tragedy  defined  to 
be  man  conquered  by  circumstance?  Canna  ye  see 
it  there  ? And  the  verra  idea  of  the  modern  trag- 
edy, man  conquering  circumstance? — and  I’ll  show 
ye  that,  too  — in  mony  a garret  where  no  eye  but 
the  gude  God’s  enters,  to  see  the  patience,  and  the 
self-sacrifice,  and  the  love  stronger  than  death,  that’s 
shining  in  thae  dark  places  o’  the  earth.  Come  wi’ 
me,  and  see.” 


CXLIX. 

Why  is  it  that  so  few  of  our  modern  songs  are 
truly  songful,  and  fit  to  be  set  to  music  ? Is  it 
not  that  the  writers  of  them  — persons  often  of 
much  taste  and  poetic  imagination — have  gone  for 
their  inspiration  to  the  intellect,  rather  than  to  the 
ear  ? That  (as  Shelley  does  by  the  skylark,  and 
Wordsworth  by  the  cuckoo),  instead  of  trying  to 
sing  like  the  birds,  they  only  think  and  talk  about 
the  birds,  and  therefore,  however  beautiful  and  true 
the  thoughts  and  words  may  be,  they  are  not  song? 


EDUCATION. 


169 


Surely  they  have  not,  like  the  mediaeval  songsters, 
studied  the  speech  of  the  birds,  the  primeval  teachers 
of  melody;  nor  even  melodies  already  extant,  round 
which,  as  round  a framework  of  pure  music,  their 
thoughts  and  images  might  crystallize  themselves, 
certain  thereby  of  becoming  musical  likewise.  The 
best  modern  song  writers,  Burns  and  Moore,  were 
inspired  by  their  old  national  airs ; and  followed 
them,  Moore  at  least,  with  a reverent  fidelity  which 
has  had  its  full  reward.  They  wrote  words  to 
music ; and  not  as  modern  poets  are  wont,  wrote 
the  words  first,  and  left  others  to  set  music  to  the 
words.  They  were  right ; and  we  are  wrong.  As 
long  as  song  is  to  be  the  expression  of  pure  emo- 
tion, so  long  it  must  take  its  key  from  music  — 
which  is  already  pure  emotion,  untranslated  into  the 
grosser  medium  of  thought  and  speech  — often  (as 
in  the  case  of  Mendelssohn’s  songs  without  words) 
not  to  be  translated  into  it  at  all. 

And  so  it  may  be,  that  in  some  simpler  age, 
poets  may  go  back,  like  the  old  Minnesingers,  to 
the  bir4s  of  the  forest,  and  learn  of  them  to  sing. 

CL. 

It  is  by  pictures  and  music,  by  art,  and  song, 
and  symbollic  representations,  that  all  nations  have 
been  educated  in  their  adolescence ; and  as  the 


170 


LIVING  TRUTHS. 


youth  of  the  individual  is  exactly  analogous  to  the 

youth  of  the  collective  race,  we  should  employ  the 

same  means  of  instruction  with  our  children  which 
succeeded  in  the  early  ages  with  the  whole  world. 

CLI. 

“And  pray,  Mr.  Smith,”  said  Lord  Vieuxbois, 
“ may  I ask  what  limit  you  would  put  to  educa- 
tion ? ” 

“ The  capacities  of  each  man,”  said  Lancelot. 
“ If  a man  living  in  civilized  society  has  one  right 
which  he  can  demand,  it  is  this : that  the  State 

which  exists  by  his  labor  shall  enable  him  to  de- 

velop, or,  at  least,  not  hinder  developing  his  whole 
faculties  to  their  very  utmost,  however  lofty  that 
may  be.  While  a man  who  might  be  an  author, 
remains  a spade-drudge,  or  a journeyman,  while  he 
has  capacities  for  a master ; while  any  man  able 
to  rise  in  life  remains  by  social  circumstances  lower 
than  he  is  willing  to  place  himself,  that  man  has 
a right  to  complain  of  the  State’s  injustice  and 
neglect.” 


CLII. 


Art,  poetry,  music,  science, — ay,  even  those 
athletic  and  graceful  exercises  on  which  we  all  pride 


EDUCATION. 


171 

ourselves,  which  we  consider  necessary  to  soften  and 
refine  ourselves, — has  God  given  us  a monopoly  of 
them  ? What  is  good  for  the  rich  man  is  good  for 
the  poor.  Over-education?  And  what  of  that? 
What  if  the  poor  be  raised  above  ‘‘their  station?” 
What  right  have  we  to  keep  them  down  ? How 
long  have  they  been  our  born  thralls  in  soul  as 
well  as  in  body ! What  right  have  we  to  say  that 
they  shall  know  no  higher  recreation  than  the  hogs, 
because,  forsooth,  if  we  raised  them,  they  might 
refuse  to  work  for  us  ? Are  we  to  fix  how  far  their 
minds  may  be  developed  ? Has  not  God  fixed  it 
for  us  when  he  gave  them  the  same-  passions, 
talents,  tastes,  as  our  own  ? 

CLIII. 

Argemone  was  beginning  to  find  out  that  when 
people  are  really  in  earnest,  it  may  be  better, 
sometimes,  to  leave  God’s  methods  of  educating 
them  alone,  instead  of  calling  the  poor,  honest 
seekers  hard  names,  which  the  speakers  themselves 
don’t  understand. 


CLIV. 


Here  and  there  a Thomas  Cooper,  sitting  in 
Stafford  gaol,  after  a youth  spent  in  cobbling  shoes, 


172 


LIVING  TRUTHS. 


vents  his  treasures  of  classic  and  historic  learning 
in  a Purgatory  of  Suicides , or  a Prince  becomes 
the  poet  of  the  poor,  no  less  for  having  fed  his 
boyish  fancy  with  the  Arabian  Nights , and  the  Pil- 
grim's Progress.  But,  with  the  most  of  us,  seden- 
tary and  monotonous  occupations,  as  has  long  been 
known,  create  of  themselves  a morbidly  meditative 
and  fantastic  turn  of  mind.  And  what  else,  in 
Heaven’s  name,  ye  fine  gentlemen,  what  else  can 
a working  man  do  with  his  imagination,  but  dream  ? 
What  else  will  you  let  him  do  with  it,  oh,  ye 
education-pedants,  who  fancy  that  you  can  teach 
the  masses  as  you  would  drill  soldiers,  every  soul 
alike,  though  you  will  not  bestir  yourselves  to  do 
even  that?  Are  there  no  differences  of  rank  — 
God’s  rank,  not  man’s  — among  them?  You  have 
discovered,  since  your  schoolboy  days,  the  fallacy 
of  the  old  nomenclature,  which  civilly  classed  them 
all  together  as  “ the  snobs,”  “ the  blackguards,” 
which  even  — so  strong  is  habit  — tempted  Burke 
himself  to  talk  of  them  as  “ the  swinish  multitude.” 
You  are  finding  yourself  wrong  there.  A few  more 
years’  experience,  not  in  mis-educating  the  poor, 
but  in  watching  the  poor  really  educate  themselves, 
may  teach  you  that  they  are  not  all,  by  nature, 
dolts  and  idiots ; that  there  are  differences  of  brain 
among  them,  just  as  great  as  there  is  between  you ; 
that  there  are  those  among  them  whose  education 


EDUCATION. 


l7  3 


ought  not  to  end,  and  will  not  end,  with  the  putting  off 
of  the  parish  cap  and  breeches  ; whom  it  is  cruelty  as 
well  as  folly  to  toss  back  into  the  hell  of  mere  manual 
drudgery  as  soon  as  you  have  — if  indeed  you  have 
been  even  so  bountiful  as  that  — excited  in  them 
a new  thirst  of  the  intellect  and  imagination.  It 
you  provide  that  craving  with  no  wholesome  food, 
you  at  least  have  no  right  to  blame  it  if  it  shall 
gorge  itself  with  poison. 


CLV. 

Imagination  is  a valuable  thing.  And,  even  if  it 
were  not,  it  is  a thing,  a real  thing,  a faculty  which 
every  one  has,  and  with  which  you  must  do  some- 
thing. You  cannot  ignore  it.  It  will  assert  its  own 
existence.  You  will  be  wise  not  to  neglect  it  in 
young  children  ; for  if  you  do  not  provide  whole- 
some food  for  it,  it  will  find  unwholesome  food 
for  itself.  I know  that  many,  especially  men  of 
business,  are  inclined  to  sneer  at  it,  and  ask  what 
is  the  use  of  it  ? The  simple  answer  is  : God  has 
made  it ; and  he  has  made  nothing  in  vain.  But 
you  will  find  that  in  practice,  in  action,  in  business, 
imagination  is  a most  useful  faculty,  and  is  so  much 
mental  capital,  whensoever  it  is  properly  trained. 
Consider  but  this  one  thing,  that  without  imagination 
no  man  can  possibly  invent  even  the  pettiest  object ; 


i74 


LIVING  TRUTHS. 


that  it  is  one  of  the  faculties  which  essentially  raises 
man  above  the  brutes  by  enabling  him  to  create 
for  himself;  that  the  first  savage  who  ever  made 
a hatchet  must  have  imagined  that  hatchet  to  him- 
self ere  he  began  it ; that  every  new  article  of 
commerce,  every  new  opening  for  trade,  must  be 
arrived  at  by  acts  of  imagination  ; by  the  very  same 
faculty  which  the  poet  or  the  painter  employs,  only 
on  a different  class  of  objects.  Remember  that  this 
faculty  is  present  in  some  strength  in  every  mind  of 
any  power ; in  every  mind  which  can  do  more  than 
follow  helplessly  in  the  beaten  track  and  do  nothing 
but  what  it  has  seen  others  do  already.  And  then 
see  whether  it  be  not  worth  while  to  give  the  young 
some  study  which  is  fitted  to  keep  this  important  and 
universal  faculty  in  health.  Now,  from  fifty  to  five-and- 
twenty  years  ago,  under  the  influence  of  the  Franklin 
and  Edgeworth  school  of  education,  imagination  was 
at  a discount.  That  school  was  a good  school  enough ; 
but  here  was  one  of  its  faults.  It  taught  people 
to  look  on  imagination  as  quite  a useless,  dangerous, 
impractical,  bad  thing ; a sort  of  mental  disease. 
And  now,  as  is  usual  after  an  unfair  depreciation  of  any 
thing,  has  come  a revolution  ; and  an  equally  unfair 
glorifying  of  the  imagination.  The  present  generation 
have  found  out  suddenly  that  the  despised  faculty  is 
worth  something,  and  therefore  are  ready  to  believe 
it  worth  every  thing ; so  that  nowadays  to  judge 


EDUCATION. 


i7S 


from  the  praise  heaped  on  some  poets,  the  mere 
possession  of  imagination,  however  ill-regulated,  will 
atone  for  every  error  of  false  taste,  bad  English, 
carelessness  for  truth,  and  even  for  coarseness,  blas- 
phemy, and  want  of  common  morality;  and  it  is 
no  longer  charity,  but  fancy,  which  is  to  cover  the 
multitude  of  sins. 

The  fact  is,  that  youth  will  always  be  the  period 
of  imagination  ; and  the  business  of  a good  educa- 
tion will  always  be  to  prevent  that  imagination  from 
being  thrown  inward,  and  producing  a mental  fever, 
diseasing  itself  and  the  whole  character,  by  feeding 
on  its  own  fancies,  its  own  day-dreams,  its  own 
morbid  feelings,  its  likes  and  dislikes ; even  if  it 
do  take  at  last  to  viler  food,  to  French  novels,  and 
lawless  thoughts  which  are  but  too  common,  alas ! 
though  we  will  not  speak  of  them  here. 

To  turn  the  imagination  not  inwards,  but  out- 
wards ; to  give  it  a class  of  objects  which  may 
excite  wonder,  reverence,  the  love  of  novelty,  and 
of  discovering,  without  heating  the  brain  or  exciting 
the  passions  — this  is  one  of  the  great  problems  of 
education;  and  I believe  from  experience  that  the  study 
of  natural  history  supplies  in  great  part  what  we  want. 

CLVI. 

“ I thought,”  said  Alton,  “ that  the  clergy  of  Eng- 


176 


LIVING  TRUTHS. 


land  were  doing  much  to  educate  the  poor.  At  least, 
I hear  all  the  dissenting  ministers  grumbling  at  their 
continual  interference.” 

“ Ay  ! ” answered  Crossthwaite,  “ educating  them 
to  make  them  slaves  and  bigots.  They  don’t  teach 
them  what  they  teach  their  own  sons.  Look  at  the 
miserable  smattering  of  general  information  — just 
enough  to  serve  as  sauce  for  their  great  first  and 
last  lesson  of,  ‘ Obey  the  powers  that  be  ’ — what- 
ever they  be ; leave  us  alone  in  our  comforts ; do, 
like  good  boys,  for  it  is  God’s  will.  And  then, 

if  a boy  does  show  talent  in  school,  do  they  help 

him  up  in  life?  Not  they;  when  he  has  just  learnt 
enough  to  whet  his  appetite  for  more,  they  turn  him 
adrift  again,  to  sink  and  drudge, — to  do  his  duty, 
as  they  call  it,  in  that  state  of  life  to  which  society 
and  the  devil  have  called  him.” 

“ But  there  are  innumerable  stories  of  great  Eng- 
lishmen who  have  risen  from  the  lowest  ranks.” 

“ Ay  ; but  where  are  the  stories  of  those  who  have 
not  risen  — of  all  the  noble  geniuses  who  have 

ended  in  desperation,  drunkenness,  starvation,  sui- 
cide, because  no  one  would  take  the  trouble  of 

lifting  them  up,  and  enabling  them  to  walk  in  the 
path  which  nature  had  marked  out  for  them  ? Dead 
men  tell  no  tales ; and  this  old  whited  sepulchre 
society  ain’t  going  to  turn  informer  against  itself.” 

“ I trust  and  hope,”  said  Alton  sadly,  “that  if 


EDUCATION. 


177 


God  intends  me  to  rise  he  will  open  the  way  for 
me ; perhaps  the  very  struggles  and  sorrows  of  a 
poor  genius  may  teach  him  more  than  ever  wealth 
and  prosperity  could. ” 

“ True,  Alton,  my  boy ! and  that’s  my  only  com- 
fort. It  does  make  men  of  us,  this  bitter  battle  of 
life.  We  working  men,  when  we  do  come  out  of 
the  furnace,  come  out,  not  tinsel  and  papier-machd, 
like  those  fops  of  red-tape  statesmen,  but  steel  and 
granite,  Alton,  my  boy  — that  has  been  seven  times 
tried  in  the  fire  ; and  woe  to  the  papier-mache'  gen- 
tleman that  runs  against  us ! But,”  he  went  on 
sadly,  “for  one  who  comes  safe  through  the  fur- 
nace there  are  a hundred  who  crack  in  the  burning. 
You  are  a young  bear,  my  lad,  with  all  your  sor- 
rows before  you ; and  you’ll  find  that  a working- 
man’s training  is  like  the  Red  Indian  children’s. 
The  few  who  are  strong  enough  to  stand  it  grow 
up  warriors ; but  all  those  who  are  not  fire-and- 
water-proof  by  nature — just  die,  Alton,  my  lad,  and 
the  tribe  thinks  itself  well  rid  of  them.” 

CLVII. 

“ Desultory  reading,”  said  old  Sandy  Mackaye, 
“is  the  bane  o’  lads.  Ye  maun  begin  wii.li  self- 
restraint  and  method,  my  man,  gin  ye  intend  to 
gie  yoursel’  a liberal  education.  So  I’ll  just  mak’ 


1 78 


LIVING  TRUTHS. 


you  a present  of  an  aulcl  Latin  grammar,  and  ye 
maun  begin  where  your  betters  ha’  begun  before  you.” 
“But  who  will  teach  me  Latin?”  asked  Alton. 
“Hoot!  man!  who’ll  teach  a man  any  thing 
except  himsel’?  It’s  only  gentlefolks  and  puir 

aristocrat  bodies  that  go  to  be  spoilt  wi’  tutors 

and  pedagogues,  cramming  and  loading  them  wi’ 
knowledge,  as  ye’d  load  a gun,  to  shoot  it  all 
out  again,  just  it  went  down,  in  a college  exami- 
nation, and  forget  all  aboot  it  after.” 

“ Ah  ! ” sighed  Alton,  “ Could  I have  gone  to  college  ! ” 
“What  for,  then?  My  father  was  a Hieland 
farmer,  and  yet  he  was  a weel-learned  man;  and 
‘ Sandy,  my  lad,’  he  used  to  say,  ‘ a man  kens 

just  as  much  as  he’s  taught  himsel’,  and  na  mair. 

So  get  wisdom ; and  wi’  all  your  getting,  get  under- 
standing.’ And  so  I did.  And  mony’s  the  Greek 
exercise  I’ve  written  in  the  cowbyres,  and  mony’s 
the  page  o’  Virgil,  too,  I’ve  turned  into  good 
Dawrie  Scotch  to  ane  that’s  dead  and  gane,  poor 
hizzie,  sitting  under  the  same  plaid,  with  the 
sheep  feeding  round  us,  up  among  the  hills,  look- 
ing out  ower  the  broad  blue  sea,  and  the  wee 
haven  wi’  the  fishing-cobles.” 

CLVIII. 


Young  men  of  the  upper  classes,  to  whom 


EDUCATION. 


179 


study  — pursue  it  as  intensely  as  you  will  — is 
but  the  business  of  the  day,  and  every  spare 
moment  relaxation ; little  you  guess  the  frightful 
drudgery  undergone  by  a man  of  the  people  who 
has  vowed  to  educate  himself  — to  live  at  once 
two  lives,  each  as  severe  as  the  whole  of  yours  — 
to  bring  to  the  self-imposed  toil  of  intellectual 
improvement,  a body  and  brain  already  worn  out 
by  a day  of  toilsome  manual  labor. 

CLIX. 

It  does  sour  and  madden  a working-man  to  be 
called  presumptuous  and  ambitious,  for  the  very 
same  aspirations  which  are  lauded  up  to  the  skies 
in  the  sons  of  the  rich  — unless,  indeed,  he  will 
do  one  little  thing,  and  so  make  his  peace  with 
society.  If  he  will  desert  his  own  class ; if  he 
will  try  to  become  a sham  gentleman,  a parasite, 
and,  if  he  can,  a mammonite,  the  world  will 
compliment  him  on  his  noble  desire  to  rise  in  life. 
He  will  have  won  his  spurs,  and  be  admitted 
into  that  exclusive  pale  of  knighthood,  beyond 
which  it  is  a sin  to  carry  arms  even  in  self 
defence.  But  if  the  working  genius  dares  to  be 
true  to  his  own  class  — to  stay  among  them  — to 
regenerate  them  — to  defend  them  — to  devote  his 
talents  to  those  among  whom  God  placed  him  and 


i8o 


LIVING  TRUTHS. 


brought  him  up  — then  he  is  the  demagogue,  the 
incendiary,  the  fanatic,  the  dreamer.  So  you  would 
have  the  monopoly  of  talent,  too,  exclusive  world- 
lings ? And  yet  you  pretend  to  believe  in  the 
miracle  of  Pentecost,  and  the  religion  that  was 
taught  by  the  carpenter’s  son,  and  preached  across 
the  world  by  fishermen ! 

CLX. 

If  gentlemen’s  sons  are  willing  to  make  them- 
selves, as  they  easily  can,  the  best  educated,  the 
most  trustworthy,  the  most  virtuous,  the  most  truly 
liberal-minded  class  of  the  commonwealth ; if  they 
will  set  themselves  to  study  the  duties  of  rank  and 
property,  as  of  a profession  to  which  they  are 
called  by  God,  and  the  requirements  of  which 
they  must  fulfil ; if  they  will  acquire,  as  they  can 
easily,  a sound  knowledge  both  of  political  economy, 
and  of  the  social  questions  of  the  day;  if  they 
will  be  foremost  with  their  personal  influence  in 
all  good  works ; if  they  will  set  themselves  to 
compete  on  equal  terms  with  the  classes  below 
them,  and  as  they  may,  outrival  them : then  they 
will  find  that  those  classes  will  receive  them  not 
altogether  on  equal  terms ; that  they  will  accede  to 
them  a superiority,  undefined,  perhaps,  but  real  and 
practical  enough  to  conserve  their  class  and  their 


RICH  AND  POOR . 


181 


rank,  in  every  article  for  which  a just  and  pru- 
dent man  would  wish. 


CLXI. 

So  long  as  the  great  mass  of  the  poor  of  any 
city  know  nothing  of  the  great  mass  of  the  rich  of 
that  city,  save  as  folk  who  roll  past  them  in  their 
carriages,  seemingly  easy  while  they  are  struggling, 
seemingly  happy  while  they  are  wretched,  so  long  will 
the  rich  of  that  city  be  supposed,  however  falsely, 
to  be  what  the  French  workman  used  to  call 
mangerus  dhommes — exploiteurs  d hommes — to  get 
their  wealth  by  means  of  the  poverty,  their  comfort 
by  means  of  the  misery  of  their  fellowmen ; and 
so  long  will  they  be  exposed  to  that  mere  envy 
and  hatred  which  pursues  always  the  more  prosper- 
ous, till,  in  some  national  crisis,  when  the  rich 
and  poor  meet  together,  both  parties  will  be  but  too 
apt  to  behave,  through  mutual  fear  and  hate,  as  if 
not  God,  but  the  devil,  was  the  maker  of  them  all. 

CLXII. 

Weep,  weep,  weep  and  weep, 

For  pauper,  dolt,  and  slave ! 

Hark ! from  wasted  moor  and  fen, 

Feverous  alley,  workhouse  den, 


x82 


LIVING  TRUTHS. 


Swells  the  wail  of  Saxon  men  — 

Work  ! or  the  grave  ! 

Down,  down,  down  and  down 

With  idler,  knave,  and  tyrant ! 

Why,  for  sluggards,  cark  and  moil? 

He  that  will  not  live  by  toil 

Has  no  right  on  English  soil! 

God’s  word  our  warrant ! 

Up,  up,  up  and  up ! 

Face  your  game  and  play  it ! 

The  night  is  past,  behold  the  sun ! 

The  idols  fall,  the  lie  is  done  — 

The  Judge  is  set,  the  doom  begun! 

Who  shall  stay  it  ? 

CLXIII. 

“ My  business,”  said  the  artist  to  Lancelot, 
“ is  to  represent  the  beautiful,  and  therefore  to 
accept  it  wherever  I find  it.  Yours  is  to  be  a 
philosopher,  and  find  the  true.” 

“ But  the  beautiful  must  be  truly  beautiful  to  be 
worth  any  thing;  and  you  must  search  for  the 
true.” 

“Yes;  truth  of  form,  color,  chiar-oscuro.  They 
are  worthy  to  occupy  me  a life ; for  they  are 


BEAUTY. 


183 

eternal — or  at  least  that  which  they  express — and 
if  I am  to  get  at  the  symbolized  unseen,  it  must 
be  through  the  beauty  of  the  symbolizing  phe- 
nomenon.n 

CLXIV. 

Do  not  despise  your  love  for  the  beautiful : 
cherish  it,  develop  it  to  the  last ; steep  your 
whole  soul  in  beauty ; watch  it  in  its  most  vast 
and  complex  harmonies,  and  not  less  in  its  most 
faint  and  fragmentary  traces.  Learn  to  compre- 
hend, to  master,  to  embody  it;  to  show  it  forth  to 
men  as  the  sacrament  of  heaven,  the  finger-mark 
of  God. 

CLXV. 

You  see  a flower  growing,  not  in  a garden,  but 
wild  in  a field  or  wood.  You  admire  its  beautiful 
colors,  or,  if  it  is  fragrant,  its  sweet  scent.  Now, 
why  was  that  flower  put  there?  You  may  answer, 
“ to  please  me.”  My  dear  friends,  I should  be 
the  last  person  to  deny  that.  I can  never  see 
a child  picking  a nosegay,  much  less  a little 
London  child,  born  and  bred  and  shut  up  among 
bricks  and  mortar,  when  it  gets  for  the  first  time 
into  a green  field,  and  throws  itself  instinctively 
upon  the  buttercups  and  daisies,  as  if  they  w-ere 


LIVING  TRUTHS. 


184 

precious  jewels  and  gold ; — I never  can  see  that 
sight,  I say,  without  feeling  that  there  are  such 
things  as  final  causes  — I mean  that  the  great 

Father  in  heaven  put  those  flowers  into  that  field 

on  purpose  to  give  pleasure  to  his  human  children. 
But  then  comes  the  question  : Of  all  the  flowers  in 
a single  field,  is  one  in  ten  thousand  ever  looked 
at  by  child  or  by  men  ? And  yet  they  are  just 
as  beautiful  as  the  rest;  and  God  has,  so  to  speak, 
taken  just  as  much  pains  with  the  many  beautiful 
things  which  men  will  never  see,  as  with  the  few, 
very  few,  which  men  may  see.  And  when  one 

thinks  further  about  this  — when  one  thinks  of  the 
vast  forests  in  other  lands,  which  the  foot  of  man 
has  seldom  or  never  trod,  and  which,  when  they  are 
entered,  are  found  to  be  full  of  trees,  flowers,  birds, 
butterflies,  so  beautiful  and  glorious,  that  any  thing 
which  we  see  in  England  is  poor  and  plain  in 
comparison  with  them  ; and  when  we  remember  that 
these  beautiful  creatures  have  been  going  on  gen- 
eration after  generation,  age  after  age,  unseen  and 

unenjoyed  by  any  human  eyes,  one  must  ask : 
Why  has  God  been  creating  all  that  beauty  ? 
simply  to  let  it  all,  as  it  were,  run  to  waste,  till 
after  thousands  of  years  one  traveller  comes,  and 
has  a hasty  glimpse  of  it?  Impossible!  Or,  again  — 
and  this  is  an  example  still  more  strange,  and  yet 
it  is  true.  We  used  to  think  till  within  a very 


BEAUTY, 


i85 

few  years  past,  that  at  the  bottom  of  the  deep  sea 
there  were  no  living  things  — that  miles  below  the 
surface  of  the  ocean,  in  total  darkness,  and  under 
such  a weight  of  water  as  would  crush  us  to  a 
jelly,  there  could  be  nothing,  except  stones,  and 
sand,  and  mud.  But  now  it  is  found  out  that  the 
bottom  of  the  deepest  seas,  and  the  utter  dark- 
ness into  which  no  ray  of  light  can  ever  pierce, 
are  alive  and  swarming  with  millions  of  creatures, 
as  cunningly  and  exquisitely  formed,  as  those  which 
live  in  the  sunlight  along  the  shallow  shores. 

Surely,  beautiful  things  were  made  to  be  seen  by 
some  one,  else  why  were  they  made  beautiful  ? 
Common  sense  tells  us  that.  But  who  has  seen 
those  countless  tribes,  which  have  been  living  down  in 
utter  darkness,  since  the  making  of  the  world  ? Com- 
mon sense,  I think,  can  give  but  one  answer — God! 

But  more  — God  has  not  only  made  things  beauti- 
ful; he  has  made  things  happy;  whatever  misery 
there  may  be  in  the  world,  there  is  no  denying 
that.  However  sorrow  may  have  come  into  the 
world,  there  is  a great  deal  more  happiness  than 
misery  in  it.  Misery  is  the  exception  ; happiness 
is  the  rule.  No  rational  man  ever  heard  a bird 
sing,  without  feeling  that  the  bird  was  happy;  and, 
if  so,  his  common  sense  ought  to  tell  him  that  if 
God  made  that  bird,  he  made  it  to  be  happy; 
he  intended  it  to  be  happy,  and  he  takes  pleasure 


i86 


LIVING  TRUTHS. 


in  its  happiness,  though  no  human  ear  should 
ever  hear  its  song,  no  human  heart  should  ever 
share  in  its  joy.  Yes,  the  world  was  not  made  for 
man  ; but  man,  like  all  the  world,  was  made  for 
God.  Not  for  man’s  pleasure,  merely,  not  for  man’s 
use,  but  for  God’s  pleasure  all  things  are,  and  for 
God’s  pleasure  they  were  created. 

CLXVI. 

It  has  been  said,  and  truly,  I believe,  that 
children  cannot  be  brought  up  among  beautiful 
pictures  — I believe  even  among  any  beautiful  sights 
and  sounds,  without  the  very  expression  of  their 
faces  becoming  more  beautiful,  purer,  gentler,  nobler; 
so  that  in  them  are  fulfilled  the  words  of  the 
great  and  holy  poet  concerning  the  maiden,  brought 
up  according  to  God  and  the  laws  of  God  — 

“ And  she  shall  bend  her  ear 
In  many  a secret  place, 

Where  rivulets  danced  their  wayward  round, 
And  beauty,  born  of  murmuring  sound, 

Shall  pass  into  her  face.” 

CLXVII. 


Consider,  you  who  have  had  experience  of  life, 


EXAMPLE . 


187 


the  harm  you  have  known  one  bad  man  do,  the 
sorrow  he  will  cause,  even  to  people  who  never 
saw  him ; and  the  good  which  you  have  seen 
one  good  man,  not  merely  do  with  his  own  hands, 
but  put  into  other  people’s  hearts  by  his  example. 
Is  not  both  the  good  and  the  harm  which  is  done 
on  earth  like  the  ripple  of  a stone  dropped  into 
water,  which  spreads  and  spreads  for  a vast 
distance  round,  however  small  the  stone  may  be  ? 
Indeed,  bold  as  it  may  seem  to  say  it,  I believe 

that  if  we  could  behold  all  hearts  as  the  Lord 

Jesus  does,  we  should  find  that  there  never  was  a 
good  man  but  that  the  whole  of  Christendom, 
perhaps  all  mankind,  was  sooner  or  later,  more  or 
less,  the  better  for  him;  and  that  there  never  was 
a bad  man  but  that  all  Christendom,  perhaps  all 
mankind,  was  the  worse  for  him.  So  fully  and 

really  true  it  is  in  every-day  practice,  that  we  are 
members  one  of  another. 

CLXVIII. 

Do  we  not  all  know  how  apt  we  are  to 
become  like  those  whom  we  see,  with  whom  we 

spend  our  hours  — and  above  all,  like  those  whom 
we  admire  and  honor?  For  good  and  for  evil, 
alas!  For  evil  — for  those  who  associate  with  evil 
or  frivolous  persons  are  too  apt  to  catch  not  only 


LIVING  TRUTHS. 


188 

their  low  tone,  but  their  very  manner,  their  very 
expression  of  face,  speaking,  and  thinking,  and 
acting.  Not  only  do  they  become  scornful,  if  they 
live  with  scorners ; false,  if  they  live  with  liars ; 

mean,  if  they  live  with  covetous  men ; but  they 
will  actually  catch  the  very  look  of  their  faces. 

The  companions  of  affected,  frivolous  people,  men 
or  women,  grow  to  look  affected  and  frivolous. 
Indulging  in  the  same  passions,  they  mould  their 
own  countenances  and  their  very  walk,  also  the 
very  tones  of  their  voice  as  well  as  their  dress, 

into  the  likeness  of  those  with  whom  they  associate, 
nay,  of  those  whose  fashions  (as  they  are  called) 

they  know  merely  by  books  and  pictures. 

But  thank  God,  who  has  put  into  the  hearts 

of  Christian  people  the  tendency  towards  God — just 
in  the  same  way  does  good  company  tend  to  make 
men  good ; high-minded  company  to  make  them 
high-minded;  kindly  company  to  make  them  kindly; 
modest  company  to  make  them  modest ; honorable 
company  to  make  them  honorable ; and  pure  com- 
pany to  make  them  pure.  If  the  young  man  *or 
woman  live  with  such,  look  up  to  such  as  their 
ideal,  that  is,  the  pattern  which  they  ought  to 
emulate  — then  as  a fact,  the  Spirit  of  God  work- 
ing in  them  does  mould  them  into  something 
of  the  likeness  of  those  whom  they  admire  and 
love. 


CIVILIZATION. 


189 


CLXIX. 

The  vices  of  incivilization  are  far  worse,  and 
far  more  destructive  of  human  life  than  the  vices 
of  civilization ; and  it  is  just  because  they  are  so, 
that  rude  tribes  deteriorate  physically  less  than 
polished  nations.  In  the  savage  struggle  for  life 
none  but  the  strongest,  healthiest,  cunningest,  have 
a chance  of  living,  prospering,  and  propagating  their 
race.  In  the  civilized  state,  on  the  contrary,  the 
weakliest,  and  the  silliest,  protected  by  law,  religion, 
and  humanity,  have  their  chance  likewise,  and 
transmit  to  their  offspring  their  own  weakliness 
or  silliness.  In  the  British  Islands,  for  instance,  at 
the  time  of  the  Norman  Conquest,  the  average  of 
man  was  doubtless  superior,  both  in  body  and 
mind,  to  the  average  of  man  now,  simply  because 
the  weaklings  could  not  have  lived  at  all ; and 
the  rich  and  delicate  beauty  in  which  the  women 
of  the  eastern  counties  still  surpass  all  other  races 
in  these  isles,  was  doubtless  far  more  common  in 
proportion  to  the  numbers  of  the  population. 

One  reason  why  Lowland  heroes  carent  vate  sacro, 
is  that  the  Lowlands,  and  those  who  live  in  them, 
are  wanting  in  the  poetic  and  romantic  elements. 
There  is  in  the  Lowlands  none  of  that  background 
of  the  unknown,  fantastic,  magical,  terrible,  per- 
petually feeding  curiosity  and  wonder,  which  still 


190 


LIVING  TRUTHS . 


remains  in  the  Scottish  Highlands;  and  which, 
when  it  disappears  from  thence,  will  remain  forever 
embalmed  in  the  pages  of  Walter  Scott.  Against 
that  half-magical  background  his  heroes  stand  out 
in  vivid  relief;  and  justly  so.  It  was  not  put  there 
by  him  for  stage  purposes ; it  was  there  as  a 
fact ; and  the  men  of  whom  he  wrote  were  con- 
scious of  it,  were  moulded  by  it,  were  not  ashamed 
of  its  influence.  For  Nature  among  the  mountains 
is  too  fierce,  too  strong  for  man.  He  cannot 
conquer  her,  and  she  awes  him.  He  cannot  dig 
down  the  cliffs,  or  chain  the  storm  blasts;  and 
his  fear  of  them  takes  bodily  shape ; he  begins  to 
people  the  weird  places  of  the  earth  with  weird 
beings,  and  sees  nixes  in  the  dark  linns  as  he 
fishes  by  night,  dwarfs  in  the  caves  where  he 
digs,  half-trembling,  morsels  of  iron  and  copper  for 
his  weapons,  witches  and  demons  on  the  snow- 
blast  which  overwhelms  his  herd  and  his  hut, 
and  in  the  dark  clouds  which  brood  on  the 
untrodden  mountain  peak.  He  lives  in  fear ; and 
yet,  if  he  be  a valiant-hearted  man,  his  fears  do 
him  little  harm.  They  may  break  out,  at  times, 
in  witch  manias,  with  all  their  horrible  suspicions, 
and  thus  breed  cruelty,  which  is  the  child  of 
fear ; but  on  the  whole  they  rather  produce  in 
man  thoughtfulness,  reverence,  a sense,  confused 
yet  precious,  of  the  boundless  importance  of  the 


CIVILIZATION. 


191 

unseen  world.  His  superstitions  develop  his  imag- 
ination ; the  moving  accidents  of  a wild  life  call 
out  in  him  sympathy  and  pathos ; and  the  moun- 
taineer becomes  instinctively  a poet. 

The  Lowlander,  on  the  other  hand,  has  his  own 
strength,  his  own  “ virtues,”  or  manfulnesses,  in 
the  good  old  sense  of  the  word ; but  they  are  not 
for  the  most  part  picturesque,  or  even  poetical. 

He  finds  out  soon  enough  for  his  weal  and  his 
bane,  that  he  is  stronger  than  Nature;  and  tyran- 
nously  and  irreverently  he  lords  it  over  her,  clear- 
ing, delving,  dyking,  building,  without  fear  or  shame. 
He  knows  of  no  natural  force  greater  than  himself, 
save  an  occasional  thunder-storm  ; and  against  that, 
as  he  grows  more  cunning,  he  insures  his  crops. 
Why  should  he  reverence  nature  ? Let  him  use 
her,  and  live  by  her.  One  cannot  blame  him. 

Man  was  sent  into  the  world  (so  says  Scripture) 
to  fill  and  subdue  the  earth.  But  he  was  sent  into 
the  world  for  other  purposes  also,  which  the  Low- 
lander is  but  too  apt  to  forget.  With  the  awe  of 
Nature,  the  awe  of  the  unseen  dies  out  in  him. 
Meeting  with  no  visible  superior,  he  is  apt  to 
become  not  merely  unpoetical  and  irreverent,  but 
somewhat  of  a sensualist  and  an  atheist.  The 
sense  of  the  beautiful  dies  out  in  him  more  and 
more.  He  has  little  or  nothing  around  him  to 
refine  or  lift  up  his  soul ; and  unless  he  meet 


LIVING  TRUTHS. 


192 

with  a religion,  and  with  a civilization,  which  can 
deliver  him,  he  may  sink  into  that  dull  brutality 
which  is  too  common  among  the  lowest  classes  of 
the  English  Lowlands,  and  remain  for  generations 
gifted  with  the  strength  and  industry  of  the  ox, 
and  with  the  courage  of  the  lion;  but,  alas!  with 
the  intellect  of  the  former,  and  the  self-restraint 
of  the  latter. 


CLXX. 


The  traveller  on  the  dusty  highway  fancies  that 
he  has  seen  the  country.  So  he  has ; the  outside 
of  it,  at  least ; but  the  angler  only  sees  the 
inside.  The  angler  only  is  brought  face  to  face 
with  the  flower,  and  bird,  and  insect  life  of  the 
rich  river  banks,  the  only  part  of  the  landscape 
where  the  hand  of  man  has  never  interfered,  and 
the  only  part  in  general  which  never  feels  the 
drought  of  summer,  “ the  trees  planted  by  the 
water-side,  whose  leaf  shall  not  wither.” 

Pleasant  are  those  hidden  water-ways ; but  yet 
are  they  the  more  pleasant  because  the  hand  of 
man  has  not  interfered  with  them  ? 

It  is  a question,  and  one  which  the  older  one 
grows,  the  less  one  is  inclined  to  answer  in  the 
affirmative.  The  older  one  grows  the  more  there 
grows  on  one  the  sense  of  waste  and  incompleteness 


KNOWLEDGE . 


I93 


in  all  scenery  where  man  has  not  fulfilled  the 
commission  of  Eden  “to  dress  it  and  to  keep 
it;  ” and  with  that,  a sense  of  loneliness  which 
makes  one  long  for  home,  and  cultivation,  and  the 
speech  of  fellowmen. 

CLXXI. 

The  mind  of  man  is  not  so  infinite  in  the 
vulgar  sense  of  that  word,  as  people  fancy ; and 
however  greedy  the  appetite  for  wonder  may  be, 
while  it  remains  unsatisfied  in  every  day  European 
life,  it  is  as  easily  satiated  as  any  other  appetite, 
and  then  leaves  the  senses  of  its  possessor  as  dull 
as  those  of  a city  gourmand  after  a Lord  Mayor’s 
feast.  Only  the  highest  minds  — our  Humboldts,  and 
Bonplards,  and  Schomburgks  (and  they  only  when 
quickened  to  an  almost  unhealthy  activity  by  civili- 
zation), can  go  on  long  appreciating  where  Nature 
is  insatiable,  imperious,  maddening,  in  her  demands 
on  our  admiration.  The  very  power  of  observing 
wears  out  under  the  rush  of  ever  new  objects ; 
and  the  dizzy  spectator  is  fain  at  last  to  shut  the 
eyes  of  his  soul,  and  take  refuge  (as  West  Indian 
Spaniards  do)  in  tobacco  and  stupidity.  The  man, 
too,  who  has  not  only  eyes,  but  utterance  — what 
shall  he  do  where  all  words  fail  him  ? Superlatives 
are  but  inarticulate,  after  all,  and  give  no  pictures, 


i94 


LIVING  TRUTHS, 


even  of  size,  any  more  than  do  numbers  of  feet 
and  yards;  and  yet,  what  else  can  we  do,  but 
heap  superlative  on  superlative,  and  cry,  “ Wonder- 
ful, wonderful ! and  after  that  wonderful,  past  all 
whooping?” 

What  Humboldt’s  self  cannot  paint,  we  will  not 
try  to  daub.  The  voyagers  were  in  a South  American 
forest,  readers.  Fill  up  the  meaning  of  those  words, 
each  as  your  knowledge  enables  you,  for  I cannot 
do  it  for  you.  Certainly  these  adventurers  could 
not.  The  absence  of  any  attempt  at  word-painting, 
even  of  admiration  at  the  glorious  things  which 
they  saw,  is  most  remarkable  in  all  early  voyagers, 
both  Spanish  and  English.  The  only  two  exceptions 
which  I recollect  are  Columbus  (but  then  all  was 
new,  and  he  was  bound  to  tell  what  he  had  seen) 
and  Raleigh ; the  two  most  gifted  men,  perhaps, 
with  the  exception  of  Humboldt,  who  ever  set  foot 
in  tropical  America;  but  even  they  dare  nothing 
but  a few  feeble  hints  in  passing.  Their  souls 
had  been  dazzled  and  stunned  by  a great  glory. 
Coming  out  of  their  European  Nature  into  that 
tropic  one,  they  had  felt  like  Plato’s  men,  bred 
in  the  twilight  cavern,  and  then  suddenly  turned 
round  to  the  broad  blaze  of  day ; they  had  seen 
things  awful  and  unspeakable ; why  talk  of  them, 
except  to  say  with  the  Turks,  “ God  is  great ! ” 

So  it  was  with  these  men.  Among  the  higher- 


KNOWLEDGE . 


T9S 


hearted  of  them,  the  grandeur  and  the  glory 
around  had  attuned  their  spirits  to  itself,  and 
kept  up  in  them  a lofty,  heroical,  reverent  frame 
of  mind  ; but  they  knew  as  little  about  the  trees 
and  animals  in  an  “artistic/’  or  “critical,”  point 
of  view,  as  in  a scientific  one.  This  tree  the 
Indians  called  one  unpronounceable  name,  and  it 
made  good  bows;  that,  some  other  name,  and  it 
made  good  canoes ; of  that,  you  could  eat  the  fruit ; 
that  produced  the  caoutchouc  gum,  useful  for  a 
hundred  matters ; that,  was  what  the  Indians  (and 
they  likewise)  used  to  poison  their  arrows  with ; 
from  the  ashes  of  those  palm-nuts  you  could  make 
good  salt ; that  tree,  again,  was  full  of  good  milk, 
if  you  bored  the  stem ; they  drank  it,  and  gave 
God  thanks,  and  were  not  astonished.  God  was 
great ; but  that  they  had  discovered  long  before  they 
came  into  the  tropics.  Noble  old  child-hearted 
heroes,  with  just  romance  and  superstition  enough 
about  them  to  keep  them  from  that  prurient 
hysterical  wonder  and  enthusiasm,  which  is  simply, 
one  often  fears,  a product  of  our  scepticism  ! We 
do  not  trust  enough  in  God ; we  do  not  really 
believe  his  power  enough,  to  be  ready,  as  they 
were,  as  every  one  ought  to  be  on  a God-made 
earth,  for  any  thing  and  every  thing  being  possible; 
and  then,  when  a wonder  is  discovered,  we  go  into 
ecstasies  and  shrieks  over  it,  and  take  to  ourselves 


196 


LIVING  TRUTHS . 


credit  for  being  susceptible  of  so  lofty  a feeling, 
true  index,  forsooth,  of  a refined  and  cultivated 
mind. 


CLXXII. 

A friend  of  mine,  and  one  whom  I am  proud 
to  call  my  friend,  succeeding  to  an  estate,  thought 
good  to  cultivate  it  himself.  And  being  a man 
of  common  sense,  he  thought  good  to  know  some- 
thing of  what  he  was  doing.  And  he  said  to 
himself,  The  soil,  and  the  rain,  and  the  air,  are 
my  raw  materials.  I ought  surely,  then,  to  find 
out  what  soil,  and  rain,  and  air  are ; so  I must 
become  a geologist,  and  a meteorologist.  Vege- 
table substances  are  what  I am  to  make.  And  I 
ought  surely  to  know  what  it  is  that  I am 
making;  so  I must  become  a botanist.  The  raw 
material  does  somehow  or  other  become  manu- 
factured into  the  produce;  the  soil  into  the  vegetable. 
I ought  surely  to  know  a little  about  the  processes 
of  my  own  manufacture;  so  I must  learn  chemistry. 
Chance  and  blind  custom  are  not  enough  for  me. 
At  best  they  can  but  leave  me  where  they  found 
me,  at  their  mercy.  Science  I need;  and  science 
I will  acquire.  What  was  the  result  ? After  many 
a mistake  and  disappointment,  he  succeeded  in  dis- 
covering on  his  own  estate  a mine  of  unsuspected 


KNO  WLEDGE. 


i97 


wealth, — not  of  gold  indeed,  but  of  gold’s  worth, — 
the  elements  of  human  food.  He  discovered  why 
some  parts  of  his  estate  were  fertile,  while  others 
were  barren ; and  by  applying  the  knowledge  thus 
gained,  he  converted  some  of  his  most  barren  fields 
into  his  most  fertile  ones ; he  preserved  again  and 
again  his  crops  from  blight,  while  those  of  others 
perished  all  around  him  ; he  won  for  himself  wealth 
and  the  respect  and  honor  of  men  of  science;  while 
those  around  him,  slowly  opening  their  eyes  to  his 
improvements,  followed  his  lessons  second-hand,  till 
the  whole  agriculture  of  an  important  district  has 
become  gradually  but  permanently  improved  under 
the  auspices  of  one  patient  and  brave  man,  who  knew 
that  knowledge  was  power,  and  that  only  by  obeying 
nature  can  man  conquer  her. 

CLXXIII. 

Is  monotony  in  itself  an  evil  ? Which  is  better, 
to  know  many  places  ill,  or  to  know  one  place 
well?  Certainly  — if  a scientific  habit  of  mind  be 
a gain  — it  is  only  by  exhausting  as  far  as  possible 
the  significance  of  an  individual  phenomenon  (is  not 
that  sentence  a true  scientific  one  in  its  magnilo- 
quence ?)  that  you  can  discover  any  glimpse  of  the 
significance  of  the  universal.  Even  men  of  bound- 
less knowledge,  like  Humboldt,  must  have  had  once 


198 


LIVING  TRUTHS. 


their  specialty,  their  pet  subject,  or  they  would  have, 
strictly  speaking,  no  knowledge  at  all.  The  volca- 
noes of  Mexico,  patiently  and  laboriously  investi- 
gated in  his  youth,  were  to  Humboldt,  possibly,  the 
key  of  the  whole  Cosmos.  I learn  more,  studying 
over  and  over  again  the  same  Bagshot  sand  and 
gravel  heaps,  than  I should  by  roaming  all  Europe 
in  search  of  new  geological  wonders. 

CLXXIV. 

“How  do  ye  expect,”  said  Sandy,  “ever  to  be 
happy,  or  strong,  or  a man  at  a’,  as  long  as  ye 
go  on  looking  to  enjoy  yersel  — yersel  ? Mony  was 
the  year  I looked  for  nought  but  my  ain  pleasure, 
and  got  it  too,  when  it  was  a’ 

“ Sandy  Mackaye,  bonny  Sandy  Mackaye, 

There  he  sits  singing  the  lahg  simmer  day; 
Lassies  gae  to  him, 

And  kiss  him,  and  woo  him, 

Na  bird  is  so  merry  as  Sandy  Mackaye.” 

Ail  muckle  good  cam’  o’t.  Ye  may  fancy  I’m 
talking  like  a sour,  disappointed  auld  carle.  But  I 
tell  ye  nay.  I’ve  got  that’s  worth  living  for,  though 
I am  down-hearted  at  times,  and  fancy  a’  is  wrong, 
and  there’s  na  hope  for  us  on  earth,  we  be  a’  sic 


SELF-S A ORIFICE. 


199 


liars  — a’  liars,  1 think;  ‘a  universal  liars-rock  sub- 
strawtum/  as  Mr.  Carlyle  says.  I’m  a great  liar 
myself,  specially  when  I’m  praying.  Do  ye  think 
I’d  live  on  here  in  this  meeserable  crankit  auld  bane- 
barrel  o’  a body,  if  it  was  not  for  the  cause,  and  for 
the  puir  young  fellows  that  come  in  to  me  whiles 
to  get  some  book-learning  about  the  gran’  auld 
Roman  times,  when  folks  didna  care  for  themselves, 
but  for  the  nation,  and  a man  counted  wife  and 
bairns  and  money  as  dross  and  dung,  in  comparison 
wi’  the  great  Roman  city,  that  was  the  mither  o’ 
them  a’,  and  wad  last  on,  free  and  glorious,  after 
they  and  their  bairns  were  a’  dead  thegither? 
Hoot,  man  ! If  I had  na  the  cause  to  care  for 
and  to  work  for  whether  I ever  see  it  triumphant 
on  earth  or  no  — I’d  just  tak’  the  cauld-water-cure 
off  Waterloo-b ridge,  and  mak’  mysel  a case  for  the 
Humane  Society.” 

“ And  what  is  the  cause  ? ” asked  Alton. 

“ YVud  I tell  ye  ? We  want  no  ready-made  freens 
o’  the  cause.  I dinna  hauld  wi’  thae  French  indoc- 
trinating pedants  that  took  to  stick  free  opinions 
into  a man  as  ye’d  stick  pins  into  a pincushion,  to 
fa’  out  again  the  first  shake.  Na  — the  cause  must 
find  a man,  and  tak  hauld  o’  him,  willy-nilly,  and 
grow  up  in  him  like  an  inspiration,  till  he  can 
see  nocht  but  in  the  light  o’t.  Puir  bairn  ! ” he 
went  on,  looking  with  a half-sad,  half-comic  face  at 


200 


LIVING  TRUTHS . 


Alton  — “puir  bairn- — like  a young  bear,  wi’  a’  your 
sorrows  before  ye ! This  time  seven  years  ye’ll  ha’ 
no  need  to  come  speering  and  questioning  what  the 
cause  is,  and  the  gran’  cause,  and  the  only  cause 
worth  working  for  on  the  earth  o’  God.  And  noo 

gang  your  gate,  and  mak’  fine  feathers  for  foul 

birds.  I’m  gaun  whar  ye’ll  be  ganging  too, 
belong.” 

Alton  went  sadly  out  of  the  shop,  but  Sandy 
called  him  back. 

“ Stay  a wee,  bairn ; there’s  the  Roman  History 
for  ye.  There  ye’ll  read  what  the  cause  is,  and 
how  they  that  seek  their  ain  are  no  worthy 

thereof.” 

Alton  took  the  book,  and  found  in  the  legends 
of  Brutus,  and  Codes,  and  Scaevola,  and  the 
retreat  to  the  Mons  Sacer,  and  the  Gladiator’s  war, 
what  the  cause  was,  and  forgot  awhile  in  those 

tales  of  antique  heroism  and  patriotic  self-sacrifice 
his  own  longings. 

CLXXV. 

“ Deep  in  the  warm  vale  the  village  is  sleeping, 

Sleeping  the  firs  on  the  bleak  rock  above; 

Nought  wakes,  save  grateful  hearts,  silently  creeping 

Up  to  their  Lord  in  the  might  of  their  love. 


SELF-S A ORIFICE . 


2or 


“What  thou  hast  given  me,  Lord,  here  I bring  thee, 
Odor,  and  light,  and  the  magic  of  gold ; 

Feet  which  must  follow  thee,  lips  which  must  sing  thee, 
Limbs  which  must  ache  for  thee  ere  they  grow  old/’ 

CLXXVI. 

To  be  good  and  to  do  good,  even  to  long  to  be 
good  and  to  long  to  do  good,  to  hunger  and  thirst 
after  righteousness,  is  the  best  and  highest  sacrifice 
which  any  human  being  can  offer  to  his  Father  in 
heaven.  For  so  he  honors  his  Father  most  truly; 
for  he  longs  and  strives  to  be  like  that  Father;  to 
be  good  as  God  is  good,  holy  as  God  is  holy, 
beneficent  and  useful,  even  as  God  is  infinitely 
beneficent  and  useful  ; being,  in  one  word,  perfect, 
as  his  Father  in  heaven  is  perfect.  This  is  the 
best  and  highest  act  of  worship,  the  truest  devo- 
tion. 


CLXXVII. 

Every  time  we  perform  an  act  of  kindness  to 
any  human  being,  aye,  even  to  a dumb  animal  ; 
every  time  we  conquer  our  worldliness,  love  of 
pleasure,  ease,  praise,  ambition,  money,  for  the  sake 
of  doing  what  our  conscience  tells  us  to  be  our 
duty,  we  are  indeed  worshipping  God  the  Father  in 


202 


LIVING  TRUTHS. 


Spirit  and  in  truth,  and  offering  him  a sacri- 
fice which  he  will  surely  accept,  for  the  sake  of 

his  beloved  son,  by  whose  spirit  all  good  deeds 
and  thoughts  are  inspired. 

CLXXVIII. 

You  desire  to  be  glorified  with  Christ.  Remem- 
ber that  true  glory  can  only  be  attained  in  earth 
or  heaven  through  self-sacrifice.  Whosoever  will 

save  his  life  shall  lose  it ; whosoever  will  lose  his 
life  shall  save  it.  If  that  eternal  moral  law  held 
good  enough  for  the  sinless  Christ,  who,  though 
he  were  a son,  yet  learned  obedience  by  the 
things  which  he  suffered,  how  much  more  must  it 
hold  good  of  you  and  me  and  all  moral  and 

rational  beings — yea!  for  the  very  angels  in 
heaven.  They  have  not  sinned.  That  we  know  ; and 
we  do  not  know,  and  I presume  cannot  know,  that 
they  have  ever  suffered.  But  this  at  least  we  know, 
that  they  have  submitted.  They  have  obeyed  and 

have  given  up  their  wills  to  be  the  ministers  of 

God’s  will.  In  them  is  neither  self-will  nor  sel- 

fishness ; and  therefore  by  faith,  that  is,  by  trust 
and  loyalty,  they  stand.  And  so,  by  consenting  to 
lose  their  individual  life  of  selfishness,  they  have 
saved  their  eternal  life  in  God,  the  life  of  bless- 
edness and  holiness ; just  as  all  evil  spirits  have 


lost  their  eternal  life  by  trying  to  save  their  selfish 
life,  and  be  something  in  themselves  without  re- 
spect to  God. 


CLXXIX. 

Without  self-sacrifice  there  can  be  no  blessedness, 
neither  in  earth  nor  in  heaven.  He  that  loveth 
his  life  will  lose  it.  He  that  hateth  his  life  in 

this  paltry,  selfish,  luxurious,  hypocritical  world,  shall 
keep  it  to  life  eternal. 

CLXXX. 

What  is  life  that  we  should  make  such  ado 
about  it,  and  hug  it  so  closely,  and  look  to  it  to 
fill  our  hearts  ? What  is  all  earthly  life  with  all 
its  bad  and  good  luck,  its  riches  and  its  poverty, 
but  a vapor  that  passes  away? — noise  and  smoke 
overclouding  the  enduring  light  of  heaven.  A man 
may  be  very  happy  and  blest  in  this  life;  yet  he 
may  feel  that,  however  pleasant  it  is,  at  root  it  is 
no  reality,  but  only  a shadow  of  realities  which 
are  eternal  and  infinite  in  the  bosom  of  God,  — a 
piece-meal  pattern  of  the  Light  Kingdom, — the 
city  not  made  with  hands,  eternal  in  the  heavens. 
For  all  this  time-world,  as  a wise  man  says,  is  but 
like  an  image,  beautifully  and  fearfully  emblematic, 


204 


LIVING  TRUTHS. 


but  still  only  an  emblem,  like  an  air  image,  which 
plays  and  flickers  in  the  grand,  still  mirror  of 
eternity.  Out  of  nothing,  into  time  and  space  we 
all  came  into  noisy  day ; and  out  of  time  and 
space  into  the  silent  night  shall  we  all  return  into 
the  spirit  world  — the  everlasting  twofold  mystery  — 
into  the  light-world  of  God’s  love,  or  the  fire-world 
of  his  anger,  every  like  unto  its  like,  and  every 
man  to  his  own  place. 

CLXXXI. 

The  man  who  will  get  most  work  done,  and 
done  with  the  least  trouble  whether  for  himself, 
for  his  family,  or  in  the  calling  and  duty  to  which 
God  has  called  him,  will  be  the  man  who  takes 
our  Lord’s  advice.  Who  takes  no  thought  for  the 
morrow,  and  leaves  the  morrow  to  take  thought  for 
itself.  That  man  will  believe  that  this  world  is  a 
well-ordered  world,  as  it  needs  must  be,  seeing 
that  God  made  it,  God  redeemed  it,  God  governs 
it ; and  that  God  is  merciful  in  this  — that  he 
rewardeth  every  man  according  to  his  works.  That 
man  will  take  thought  for  to-day,  earnestly  and 
diligently,  even  at  times  anxiously  and  in  fear  and 
trembling;  but  he  will  not  distract,  and  divide, 
and  weaken  his  mind  by  taking  thought  for  to-mor- 
row also.  Each  day  he  will  set  about  the  duty 


LIFE . 


205 


which  lies  nearest  him,  with  a whole  heart  and 
with  a single  eye,  giving  himself  to  it  for  the 
time  as  if  there  was  nothing  else  to  be  done  in 
the  world.  As  for  what  he  is  to  do  next  he  will 
think  little  of  that.  Little,  even,  will  he  think  of 
whether  his  work  will  succeed  or  not.  That  must 
be  as  God  shall  will.  All  that  he  is  bound  to  do 
is  to  do  his  best ; and  his  best  he  can  only  do 
by  throwing  his  whole  soul  into  his  work.  As  his 
day,  he  trusts  his  strength  will  be ; and  he  must 
not  waste  the  strength  which  God  has  given  him 
for  to-day  on  vain  fears  or  vain  dreams  about  to- 
morrow. To-day  is  quite  full  enough  of  anxiety,  of 
care,  of  toil,  of  ignorance  ; sufficient  for  the  day 
is  the  evil  thereof.  Yes;  and  sufficient  for  the  day 
is  the  good  thereof  likewise.  To-day,  and  to-mor- 
row, too,  may  end  very  differently  from  what  he 
hoped.  Yes;  but  they  may  end,  too,  very  differ- 
ently from  what  he  feared.  Let  him  throw  his 
whole  soul  into  the  thing  which  he  is  about,  and 
leave  the  rest  to  God. 

For  so  only  will  he  come  to  the  day’s  end  in 
that  wholesome  and  manful  temper,  contented,  if  not 
cheerful,  satisfied  with  the  work  he  has  had  to  do, 
if  not  satisfied  with  the  way  in  which  he  has 
done  it,  which  will  leave  his  mind  free  to  remem- 
ber all  his  comforts,  all  his  blessings,  even  to 
those  commonest  of  all  blessings,  which  we  are 


20  6 


LIVING  TRUTHS. 


all  too  apt  to  forget,  just  because  they  are  as 
necessary  as  the  air  we  breathe ; which  will  show 
him  how  much  light  there  is,  even  on  the  darkest 
day. 

He  has  not  got  this  or  that  fine  thing,  it  may 
be,  for  which  he  longed ; but  he  has  at  least  his 
life,  at  least  his  reason,  at  least  his  conscience,  at 
least  his  God.  Are  not  they  enough  to  possess? 
Are  not  they  enough  wherewith  to  lie  down  at 
night  in  peace,  and  rise  to-morrow  to  take  what 
comes  to-morrow  even  as  he  took  what  came  to-day. 
And  will  he  not  be  most  fit  to  take  what  comes 
to-morrow  like  a Christian  man,  whether  it  be  good 
or  evil,  with  his  spirit  braced  and  yet  chastened, 
by  honest  and  patient  labor,  instead  of  being 
weakened  and  irritated  by  idling  over  to-day,  while 
he  dreamed  and  fretted  about  to-morrow? 

CLXXXII. 

Be  good,  sweet  maid,  let  those  who  will  be  clever; 

Do  noble  things,  not  dream  them  all  day  long  ; 
And  so  make  life,  death,  and  the  vast  forever 

One  grand,  sweet  song. 

CLXXXIII. 


Fret  not  — lest  you  lose  temper,  and  be  moved 


LIFE . 


207 


to  do  evil.  Plot  not  — lest  you  lose  faith  in  God, 
and  be  moved  to  be  dishonest.  Look  not  too  far 
ahead — so  far  only,  as  to  keep  yourselves  out  of 
open  and  certain  danger  — lest  you  see  what  is 
coming  before  you  are  ready  for  the  sight.  If  we 
foresaw  the  troubles  which  may  be  coming,  perhaps 
it  would  break  our  hearts ; and  if  we  foresaw  the 
happiness  which  is  coming,  perhaps  it  would  turn 
our  heads.  Let  us  not  meddle  with  the  future,  and 
matters  which  are  too  high  for  us,  but  refrain  our 
souls,  and  keep  them  low,  like  little  children,  con- 
tent with  the  day’s  food,  and  the  day’s  schooling, 
and  the  day’s  play-hours,  sure  that  the  Divine 
Master  knows  that  all  is  right,  and  knows  how 
to  train  us-,  and  whither  to  lead  us,  though  we 
know  not,  and  need  not  know,  save  this  — that  the 
path  by  which  he  is  leading  each  of  us  — if  we 
will  but  obey  and  follow,  step  by  step — leads  up 
to  Everlasting  Life. 

CLXXXIV. 

There  is  but  one  true,  real,  and  right  life  for 
rational  beings;  one  only  life  worth  living,  and 
worth  living  in  this  world,  or  in  any  other  life, 
past,  present,  or  to  come.  And  that  is  the  eternal 
life  which  was  before  all  worlds,  and  will  be  after 
all  are  passed  away  — and  that  is  neither  more  nor 


2o8 


LIVING  TRUTHS . 


less  than  a good  life ; a life  of  good  feelings,  good 
thoughts,  good  words,  good  deeds,  — the  life  of  Christ 
and  of  God. 


CLXXXV. 

Every  man,  it  would  seem,  brings  into  the  world 
with  him  a certain  capacity,  a certain  amount  of 
vital  force,  in  body  and  in  soul ; and  when  that  is 
used  up,  the  man  must  sink  down  into  some  sort 
of  second  childhood,  and  end  very  much  where  he 
began ; unless  the  grace  of  God  shall  lift  him  above 
the  capacity  of  the  mere  flesh,  into  a life  literally 
new,  ever-renewing,  ever-expanding,  and  eternal. 

CLXXXVI. 

If  you  wish  to  prosper  on  the  earth,  let  God 
be  in  all  your  thoughts.  Remember  that  the  Lord 
is  on  your  right  hand;  and  then,  and  then  alone 
will  you  not  be  moved,  either  to  terror  or  to  sin, 
by  any  of  the  chances  and  changes  of  this  mortal 
life.  “Fret  not  thyself,’'  says  the  Psalmist,  “else 
shalt  thou  be  moved  to  do  evil.”  And  the  only 
way  not  to  fret  yourselves  is  to  remember  that  God 
is  your  refuge  and  strength,  a very  present  help  in 
trouble.  “ He  that  believeth,”  saith  the  Prophet, 
“shall  not  make  haste  ” — not  hurry  himself  into 


LIFE. 


209 


folly  and  disappointment  and  shame.  Why  should 
you  hurry,  if  you  remember  that  you  are  in  the 
kingdom  of  Christ  and  of  God?  You  cannot  hurry 
God’s  Providence,  if  you  would ; you  ought  not,  if 
you  could.  God  must  know  best.  God’s  laws  must 
work  at  the  right  pace,  and  fulfil  his  will  in  the 
right  way,  and  at  the  right  time. 

CLXXXVII. 

People  do  not  see  the  strange  things  which  pass 
them  every  day.  “ The  romance  of  real  life  ” is 
only  one  to  the  romantic  spirit.  And  then  they  set 
up  for  critics,  instead  of  pupils;  as  if  the  artist’s 
business  was  not  just  to  see  what  they  cannot 
see — to  open  their  eyes  to  the  harmonies  and  the 
discords,  the  miracles  and  the  absurdities,  which 
seem  to  them  one  uniform  gray  fog  of  common- 
places. 


CLXXXVIII. 

Three  fishers  went  sailing  out  into  the  west, 

Out  into  the  west  as  the  sun  went  down ; 

Each  thought  of  the  woman  who  loved  him  best, 
And  the  children  stood  watching  them  out  of  the 
town. 

For  men  must  work,  and  women  must  weep, 


210 


LIVING  TRUTHS . 


And  there’s  little  to  earn,  and  many  to  keep, 
Though  the  harbor  bar  be  moaning 

Three  wives  sat  up  in  the  lighthouse  tower, 

And  they  trimmed  the  lamps  as  the  sun  went 
down  ; 

They  looked  at  the  squall,  and  they  looked  at  the 
shower, 

And  the  night-rack  came  rolling  up  ragged  and 
brown. 

But  men  must  work,  and  women  must  weep, 
Though  storms  be  sudden,  and  waters  deep, 

And  the  harbor  bar  be  moaning. 

Three  corpses  lay  out  on  the  shining  sands 
In  the  morning  gleam  as  the  tide  went  down, 
And  the  women  are  weeping  and  wringing  their 
hands 

For  those  who  will  never  come  back  to  the  town 
For  men  must  work,  and  women  must  weep, 

And  the  sooner  it’s  over,  the  sooner  to  sleep  — 
And  good-by  to  the  bar  and  its  moaning. 

CLXXXIX. 

Life  is  hard  work — any  life  at  least  which  is 
worth  being  called  life,  which  is  not  the  life  of  a 
swine,  who  thinks  of  nothing  but  feeding  himself, 


LIFE . 


2 1 1 


or  of  a butterfly  which  thinks  of  nothing  but  enjoy- 
ing itself.  Those  are  easy  lives  enough  ; but  the 
end  thereof  is  death.  The  swine  goes  to  the 
slaughter.  The  butterfly  dies  of  the  frost  — and 
there  is  an  end  of  them.  But  the  manly  life,  the 
life  of  good  deeds  and  noble  thoughts,  and  useful- 
ness and  purity,  the  life  which  is  discontented  with 
itself,  and  which,  the  better  it  is,  longs  the  more 
to  be  better  still  ; the  life  which  will  endure  through 
this  world  into  the  world  to  come,  and  on  and 
upward  forever  and  forever.  That  life  is  not  an 
easy  life  to  live;  it  is  very  often  not  a pleasant 
life;  very  often  a sad  life  — so  sad  that  that  is 
true  of  it  which  the  great  poet  says : 

“ Who  ne’er  his  bread  in  sorrow  ate, 

Who  never  in  the  midnight  hours 

Sat  weeping  on  his  lonely  bed, 

He  knows  you  not,  ye  Heavenly  Powers.” 

You  may  say  this  is  bad  news.  I do  not  believe 
it  is.  I believe  it  is  good  news,  and  the  very  best 
of  news ; but  if  it  is  bad  news,  I cannot  help  it. 
I did  not  make  it  so.  God  made  it  so.  And  God 
must  know  best.  God  is  love.  And  we  are  his 
children,  and  he  loves  us.  And  therefore  his  ways 
with  us  must  be  good  and  loving  ways,  and  any 
news  about  them  must  be  good  news,  and  a 


212 


LIVING  TRUTHS. 


gospel,  though  we  cannot  see  it  so  at  first. 

cxc. 

Truly  our  way  to  eternal  joy  is  to  labor  and  to 
suffer  here  with  Christ.  It  is  true,  and  you  will 
find  it  true,  when  years  hence  you  look  back 
on  the  events  of  your  own  lives, — you  will  find,  I 
say,  that  the  very  events  in  your  lives  which  seemed 
at  the  time  most  trying,  most  vexing,  most  disas- 
trous, have  been  those  which  were  most  necessary 
for  you  to  call  out  what  was  good  in  you,  and  to 
purge  out  what  was  bad ; that  by  those  very 
troubles  your  Lord,  who  knows  the  value  of  suffer- 
ing, because  he  has  suffered  himself,  was  making 
true  men  and  true  women  of  you  ; hardening  your 
heads  while  he  softened  your  hearts ; teaching  you 
to  obey  him,  while  he  taught  you  not  to  obey 
your  own  fancies  and  your  own  passions ; refining 
and  tempering  your  characters  in  the  furnace  of 
trial,  as  the  smith  refines  soft  iron  into  trusty  steel; 
teaching  you,  as  the  great  poet  says : 

“That  life  is  not  as  idle  ore, 

But  heated  hot  with  burning  fears, 

And  bathed  in  baths  of  hissing  tears, 

And  battered  with  the  strokes  of  doom, 

To  shape  and  use.” 


COURAGE. 


213 


CXCI. 

True  courage  comes  by  faith.  There  is  a cour- 
age which  does  not  come  by  faith.  There  is  a 
brute  courage,  which  comes  from  hardness  of  heart, 
from  stupidity,  obstinacy,  or  anger,  which  does  not 
see  danger,  or  does  not  feel  pain.  That  is  the 

courage  of  the  brute.  One  does  not  blame  it,  or 
call  it  wrong.  It  is  good  in  its  place,  as  all 

natural  things  are,  which  God  has  made.  It  is  good 

enough  for  the  brutes,  but  it  is  not  good  enough  for 
man.  You  cannot  trust  it  in  man.  And  the  more 
a man  is  what  a man  should  be,  the  less  he  can 
trust  it.  The  more  mind  and  understanding  a man 
has,  so  as  to  be  able  to  foresee  danger,  and 

measure  it,  the  more  chance  there  is  of  his  brute 
courage  giving  way.  The  more  feeling  a man 
has,  the  more  keenly  he  feels  pain  of  body,  or 
pain  of  mind,  such  as  shame,  loneliness,  the  dis- 
like, ridicule,  and  contempt  of  his  fellowmen  ; in 

a word,  the  more  of  a man  he  is,  and  the  less  of 

a mere  brute,  the  more  chance  there  is  of  his 

brute  courage  breaking  down,  just  when  he  wants 
it  most  to  keep  him  up,  by  leaving  him  to  play 
the  coward  and  come  to  shame.  Yes,  to  go  through 
with  a difficult  and  dangerous  undertaking,  a man 
wants  more  than  brute  courage.  He  wants  spiritual 
courage  — the  courage  which  comes  by  faith.  He 


214 


LIVING  TRUTHS. 


needs  to  have  faith  in  what  he  is  doing;  to  be 
certain  that  he  is  doing  his  duty,  to  be  certain 
that  he  is  in  the  right.  Certain  that  right  will 
conquer,  certain  that  God  will  make  it  conquer,  by 
him  or  by  some  one  else ; certain  that  he  will 
either  conquer  honorably,  or  fail  honorably,  for  God 
is  with  him.  In  a word,  to  have  true  courage, 
man  needs  faith  in  God. 

CXCII. 

There  is  but  one  thing  which  you  have  to  fear 
in  earth  or  heaven  — being  untrue  to  your  better 
selves,  and  therefore  untrue  to  God.  If  you  will 
not  do  the  thing  you  know  to  be  right,  and  say 
the  thing  you  know  to  be  true,  then  indeed  you 
are  weak.  You  are  a coward,  and  sin  against  God 
and  suffer  the  penalty  of  your  cowardice.  You 
desert  God,  and  therefore  you  cannot  expect  him 
to  stand  by  you. 

But  if  you  will  do  the  thing  you  know  to  be 
right,  and  say  the  thing  you  know  to  be  true, 
then  what  can  harm  you  ? “ Who  will  harm  you/’  asks 
St.  Peter,  “ if  you  be  followers  of  that  which  is  good  ? ” 

CXCIII. 


There  are  too  many  people  in  the  world,  who 


COURAGE . 


215 


are  not  what  they  ought  to  be,  and  what  they 
really  wish  to  be,  because  they  are  weak.  They 
see  what  is  right  and  admire  it ; but  they  have 
not  courage  or  determination  to  do  it.  Most  sad 
and  pitiable  it  is  to  see  how  much  weakness  of 
heart  there  is  in  the  world  — how  little  true  moral 
courage.  I suppose  that  the  reason  is  that  there 
is  so  little  faith  ; that  people  do  not  believe 
heartily  and  deeply  enough  in  God  to  trust  him  to 
defend  and  reward  them,  if  they  will  be  but  true  to 
him,  and  to  themselves.  And  therefore  they  have  no 
moral  courage.  They  are  weak.  They  are  kind, 
perhaps,  and  easy ; easily  led  right ; but,  alas ! 

just  as  easily  led  wrong.  Their  good  resolutions 
are  not  carried  out;  their  right  doctrines  not  acted 
up  to  ; and  they  live  pitiful,  confused,  useless,  incon- 
sistent lives ; talking  about  religion,  and  yet  deny- 
ing the  power  of  religion  in  their  daily  lives ; playing 
with  holy  and  noble  thoughts  and  feelings,  without 
giving  themselves  up  to  them  in  earnest,  to  be  led 
by  the  Spirit  of  God,  to  do  all  the  good  works 
which  God  has  prepared  for  them  to  walk  in. 
Pray,  all  of  you,  then,  for  the  spirit  of  faith,  to 
believe  really  in  God  ; and  for  the  spirit  of  ghostly 
strength,  to  obey  God  honestly.  No  man  ever 
asked  earnestly  for  that  spirit  but  what  he  gained 
it  at  last. 


2l6 


LIVING  TRUTHS. 


CXCIV. 

Look  at  the  class  of  men  who,  in  all  England, 
undergo  the  most  fearful  dangers ; who  know  not 
at  what  hour  of  any  night  they  may  not  be  called 
up  to  the  most  serious  labor  and  responsibility, 
with  the  chance  of  a horrible  and  torturing  death. 
I mean  the  firemen  of  our  great  cities,  than  whom 
there  are  no  steadier,  b/aver,  nobler-hearted  men. 
Not  a week  passes  without  one  or  more  of  these 
firemen,  in  trying  to  save  life  and  property,  doing 
things  which  are  altogether  heroic.  What  do  you 
fancy  keeps  them  up  to  their  work?  High  pay? 
The  amusement  and  excitement  of  fires  ? The 
vanity  of  being  praised  for  their  courage  ? My 
friends,  those  would  be  but  paltry,  weak  motives, 
which  would  not  keep  a man’s  heart  calm,  and 
his  head  clear,  under  such  responsibility  and  danger 
as  theirs.  No.  It  is  the  sense  of  duty  — the 
knowledge  that  they  are  doing  a good  and  a noble 
work  in  saving  the  lives  of  human  beings,  and  the 
wealth  of  the  nation  — the  knowledge  that  they  are 
in  God’s  hands,  and  that  no  real  evil  can  happen 
to  him  who  is  doing  right  — that  to  him  even  death 
at  his  post  is  not  a loss,  but  a gain.  In  short,  faith 
in  God,  more  or  less  clear,  is  what  gives  those  men 
their  strong,  and  quiet  courage. 


COURAGE . 


217 


cxcv. 

“Whether  it  be  right,”  said  Peter  and  John  to 
the  great  men  and  judges  of  the  Jews,  “to  hearken 
to  God  more  than  to  you,  judge  ye.  We  cannot 
but  speak  the  things  which  we  have  seen  and 
heard.”  We  cannot  but  speak  what  we  know  to  be 
true. 

It  was  that  courage  which  enabled  our  fore- 
fathers — and  not  the  great  men  among  them,  not 
the  rich,  not  even  the  learned,  save  a few  valiant 
bishops  and  clergy,  but  for  the  most  part  poor, 
unlearned  laboring  men  and  women  — to  throw  off 
the  yoke  of  Popery,  and  say,  “ Reason  and  Scripture 
tell  us  that  it  is  absurd  and  wrong  to  worship  images 
and  pray  to  saints  — tell  us  that  your  doctrines  are 
not  true.  And  we  will  say  so  in  spite  of  the  Pope 
and  all  his  power  — in  spite  of  torture  and  a fiery 
death.  We  cannot  palter ; we  cannot  dissemble ; 
we  cannot  shelter  ourselves  under  half-truths,  and 
make  a covenant  with  lies.  ‘Whether  it  be  right 
in  the  sight  of  God  to  hearken  unto  you  more  than 
to  God,  judge  ye.  We  cannot  but  speak  the  things 
which  we  know  to  be  true.’  ” 

So  it  has  been  in  all  ages,  and  so  it  will  be 
for  ever.  Faith,  the  certainty  that  a man  is  right, 
will  give  him  a courage  which  will  enable  him  to 
resist  if  need  be,  the  rich  ones,  the  strong  ones, 


2l8 


LIVING  TRUTHS . 


the  learned  ones  of  the  earth.  It  has  made  poor, 
unlearned  men  heroes  and  deliverers  of  (heir 
countrymen  from  slavery  and  ignorance.  It  has 
made  weak  women  martyrs  and  saints.  It  has  en- 
abled men  who  made  great  discoveries  to  face 
unbelief,  ridicule,  neglect,  poverty ; knowing  that 
their  worth  would  be  acknowledged  at  last,  their 
names  honored  at  last  as  benefactors  by  the  very 
men  who  laughed  at  them  and  reviled  them. 

CXCVI. 

Whatsoever  thoughts  or  feelings  tempt  us  to  pride 
and  self-conceit,  are  of  the  devil,  not  of  God.  The 
devil  is  specially  the  spirit  of  pride ; and  there- 
fore, whatever  tempts  you  to  fancy  yourself  some- 
thing different  from  your  fellowmen,  superior  to 
your  fellowmen,  safer  than  they,  more  favored  by 
God  than  they,  that  is  a temptation  of  the  spirit 
of  pride.  Whatever  tempts  you  to  think  that  you 
can  do  without  God’s  help  and  God’s  providence  ; 
whatever  tempts  you  to  do  any  thing  extraordinary, 
and  show  yourself  off,  that  you  may  make  a fig- 
ure in  the  world ; and  above  all,  whatever  tempts 
you  to  antinomianism,  that  is,  to  fancy  that  God 
will  overlook  sins  in  you  which  he  will  not  over- 
look in  other  men  — all  these  are  temptations  from 
the  spirit  of  pride.  They  are  temptations  like  our 


PRIDE. 


219 


Lord’s  temptations.  These  temptations  came  on 
our  Lord  more  terribly  than  they  ever  can  on  you 
and  me,  just  because  he  was  the  Son  of  Man,  the 
perfect  man,  and,  therefore,  had  more  real  reason 
for  being  proud  (if  such  a thing  could  be)  than 
any  man,  or  than  all  men  put  together.  But  he 
conquered  the  temptations  because  he  was  perfect 
man,  led  by  the  Spirit  of  God ; and  therefore,  he 
knew  that  the  only  way  to  be  a perfect  man 
was  not  to  be  proud,  however  powerful,  wise,  and 
glorious  he  might  be ; but  to  submit  himself 
humbly  and  utterly,  as  ev£ry  man  should  do,  to 
the  will  of  his  Father  in  heaven,  from  whom  alone 
his  greatness  came. 


CXCVII. 

What  proverb  more  true  than  that  after  pride 
comes  a fall  ? Do  we  not  know  (if  we  do  not, 

we  shall  sooner  or  later)  that  the  surest  way  to 
fail  in  any  undertaking  is  to  set  about  it  in  self- 
will  and  self-conceit ; that  the  surest  way  to  do 
a foolish  thing,  is  to  fancy  that  we  are  going  to 
do  a very  wise  one  ; that  the  surest  way  to  make 
ourselves  ridiculous  in  the  eyes  of  our  fellowmen, 
is  to  assume  airs,  and  boast,  show  ourselves  off, 
and  end  by  showing  off  only  our  own  folly. 

Why  is  it  so  ? Why  has  God  so  ordered  the 


220 


LIVING  TRUTHS . 


world  and  human  nature,  that  pride  punishes  itself  ? 
Because,  I presume,  pride  is  begotten  and  born  of 
a lie,  and  God  hates  a lie,  because  all  lies  lead 
to  ruin,  and  this  lie  of  pride  above  all.  It  is,  as 
it  were,  the  root  lie  of  all  lies.  The  very  lie  by 
which  as  old  tales  tell,  Satan  fell  from  heaven, 
and  when  he  tried  to  become  a god  in  his  own 
right,  found  himself, — to  his  surprise  and  disappoint- 
ment — only  a devil.  For  pride  and  self-conceit 
contradict  the  original  constitution  of  man  and  the 
universe,  which  is  this  — that  of  God  are  all 
things,  and  in  God  are  all  things,  and  for  God 
are  all  things. 

CXCVIII. 

Man  depends  on  God.  Self  tells  him  that  he 
depends  on  himself.  Man  has  nothing  but  what 
he  receives  from  God.  Self  tells  him  that  what  he 
has  is  his  own,  and  that  he  has  a right  to  do  with 
it  what  he  likes.  Man  knows  nothing  but  what 
God  teaches  him.  Self  tells  him  that  he  has  found 
out  every  thing  for  himself,  and  can  say  what  he 
thinks  fit  without  fear  of  God  or  man.  Therefore, 
the  proud,  self-willed,  self-conceited  man  must  come 
to  harm,  like  Malvolio  in  the  famous  play,  merely 
because  he  is  in  the  blackest  night  of  ignorance. 
He  has  mistaken  who  he  is,  what  he  is,  where  he 


PRIDE . 


221 


is.  He  is  fancying  himself,  as  many  mad  men  do, 
the  centre  of  the  universe ; while  God  is  the  centre 
of  the  universe.  He  is  just  as  certain  to  come  to 
harm  as  a man  would  be  on  board  a ship,  who 
should  fancy  that  be  himself,  and  not  the  ship,  was 
keeping  him  afloat,  and  step  overboard  to  walk 
upon  the  sea.  We  all  know  what  would  happen  to 
that  man.  Let  us  thank  God,  our  Father,  that  he 
not  only  knows  what  would  happen  to  such  men, 
but  desires  to  save  them  from  the  consequences  of 
their  own  folly,  by  letting  them  feel  the  conse- 
quences of  their  own  folly. 

Oh,  my  friends,  let  us  search  our  hearts,  and 
pray  to  our  Father  in  heaven,  to  take  out  of 
them  by  whatever  painful  means,  the  poisonous 
root  of  pride,  self-conceit,  self-will.  So  only  shall 
we  be  truly  strong  — truly  wise.  So  shall  we  see 
what  and  where  we  are. 

CXCIX. 

Do  we  pride  ourselves  on  being  something? 
Shall  we  pride  ourselves  on  health  and  strength  ? 
A tile  falling  off  the  roof,  a little  powder  and 
lead  in  the  hands  of  a careless  child,  can  blast 
us  out  of  this  world  in  a moment  — whither,  who 
can  tell?  What  is  our  cleverness — our  strength  of 
mind  ? A tiny  blood  vessel,  bursting  on  the  brain, 


222 


LIVING  TRUTHS . 


will  make  us  in  one  moment  paralytic,  helpless, 
babblers,  and  idiots.  What  is  our  knowledge  of 
the  world?  That  of  a man  who  is  forcing  his 
way  alone  through  a thick  and  pathless  wood, 
where  he  has  never  been  before,  to  a place  which 
he  has  never  seen.  Our  true  knowledge  is  to  know 
our  own  ignorance.  Our  true  strength  is  to  know 
our  own  weakness. 

CC. 

The  knave  who  serves  unto  another’s  needs 
Knows  himself  abler  than  the  man  who  needs  him ; 
And  she  who  stoops  will  not  forget  that  stooping 
Implies  a height  to  stoop  from. 

CCI. 

My  business  is  to  do  the  little,  simple,  every- 
day duties  which  lie  nearest  me,  and  be  faithful 
in  a few  things;  and  then,  if  Christ  will,  he  may 
make  me  some  day  ruler  over  many  things,  and  I 
shall  enter  into  the  joy  of  my  Lord,  which  is  the 
joy  of  doing  good  to  my  fellowmen.  But  I shall 
never  enter  into  that  by  thrusting  myself  into  Christ’s 
way,  with  grand  schemes  and  hasty  projects,  as  if 
I knew  better  than  he  how  to  make  his  kingdom 
come.  If  I do,  my  pride  will  have  a fall.  Because 


SELF  DE  CEPTION. 


223 


I would  not  be  faithful  over  a few  things,  I shall 
be  tempted  to  be  unfaithful  over  many  things ; and 
instead  of  entering  into  the  joy  of  my  Lord,  I shall 
be  in  danger  of  the  awful  judgment  pronounced  on 
those  who  do  evil  that  good  may  come. 

CCII. 

Most  weird  and  fantastic  are  visits  by  night 
to  the  West  Indian  harbors.  Above,  the  black 
mountain  depths,  with  their  canopy  of  cloud  bright 
white  against  the  purple  night,  hung  with  keen 
stars.  The  moon  — it  may  be  on  her  back  in  the 
.west  — sinking  like  a golden  goblet  behind  some 
rock-fort,  half  shrouded  in  black  trees.  Below,  a 
line  of  bright  mist  over  a swamp  with  the  cocoa- 
palms  standing  up  through  it,  dark,  and  yet  glisten- 
ing in  the  moon.  A light  here  and  there  in  a 
house ; another  here  and  there  in  a vessel,  unseen 
in  the  dark.  The  echo  of  the  gun  from  hill  to  hill. 
Wild  voices  from  shore  and  sea.  The  snorting  of 
the  steamer,  the  rattling  of  the  chain  through  the 
hawse-hole  ; and,  on  deck,  and  under  the  quarter, 
strange  gleams  of  red  light  amid  pitchy  darkness, 
from  engines,  galley  fires,  lanterns;  and  black  folk 
and  white  folk  flitting  restlessly  across  them. 

The  strangest  show  — “ like  a thing  in  a plav,” 
says  every  one  when  they  see  it  for  the  first  time. 


224 


LIVING  TRUTHS. 


And  when  at  the  gun-fire  one  tumbles  out  of  one’s 
berth  and  up  on  deck  to  see  the  new  island,  one 
has  need  to  rub  one’s  eyes,  and  pinch  one’s  self  — 
as  I was  minded  to  do  again  and  again  during 
the  next  few  weeks  — to  make  sure  that  it  is  not 
all  a dream.  It  is  always  worth  the  trouble,  mean- 
while, to  tumble  up  on  deck,  not  merely  for  the 
show,  but  for  the  episodes  of  West  Indian  life 
and  manners,  which,  quaint  enough  by  day,  are 
sure  to  be  even  more  quaint  at  night,  in  the  con- 
fusion and  bustle  of  the  darkness.  One  such  I 
witnessed  in  the  harbor  of  Grenada  not  easily  to  be 
forgotton. 

A tall  and  very  handsome  middle-aged  brown 
woman,  in  a limp  print  gown,  and  a gorgeous  turban, 
stood  at  the  gangway  in  a glare  of  light,  which 
made  her  look  like  some  splendid  witch  by  a 
Walburgis  night-fire. 

“Tell  your  boatman  to  go  round  to  the  other 
side,”  quoth  the  officer  in  charge. 

“Fanqua!  (Francois)  you  go  round  oder  side  of 
de  ship.” 

Fanqua,  who  seemed  to  be  her  son,  being  sleepy, 
tipsy,  stupid,  or  lazy,  did  not  stir. 

“Fanqua!  you  hear  what  de  officer  say?  You 
go  round.” 

No  move. 

“Fanqua!  you  not  ashamed  of  yourself?  You 


SELF-DECEPTION. 


225 


not  hear  de  officer  say  he  turn  steampipe  over 
you?” 

No  move. 

“ Fanqua  ! ” ( authoritative .) 

“ Fanqua  ! ” ( indignant .) 

“ Fanqua  ! ” ( argumentative .) 

“ Fanqua  ! ” ( astonished ’) 

“ Fanqua  ! ” ( majestic .) 

“ Fanqua  ! ” ( confidentially  alluring .) 

“ Fanqua ! ” ( regretful. ) 

And  so  on  through  every  conceivable  tone  of  ex- 
pression. But  Fanqua  did  not  move,  and  the 
officer  and  bystanders  laughed. 

She  summoned  all  her  talents,  and  uttered  one 
last  “ Fanqua !”  which  was  a triumph  of  art. 

Shame  and  surprise  were  blended  in  her  voice 
with  tenderness  and  pity,  and  they  again  with 
meek  despair.  To  have  been  betrayed,  disgraced, 
and  so  unexpectedly,  by  one  whom  she  loved,  and 
must  love  still,  in  spite  of  this,  his  fearful  fall  — 
it  was  more  than  heart  could  bear.  Breathing  his 
name  but  that  once  more,  she  stood  a moment, 
like’  a queen  of  tragedy,  one  long  arm  drawing  her 
garments  round  her,  the  other  outstretched  as  if 
to  cast  off  — had  she  the  heart  to  do  it  — the 
rebel,  and  then  stalked  away  into  the  darkness  of 
the  paddle-boxes  — forever  and  a day  to  brood  over 
her  great  sorrow?  Not  in  the  least.  To  begin 


226 


LIVING  TRUTHS. 


chattering  away  to  her  acquaintances  as  if  no  Fanqua 
existed  in  the  world. 

It  was  a piece  of  admirable  play-acting,  and  was 
meant  to  be.  She  had  been  conscious  all  the  while 
that  she  was  an  object  of  attention  — possibly  of 
admiration  — to  a group  of  men,  and  she  knew 
what  was  right  to  be  done  and  said  under  the 
circumstances,  and  did  it  perfectly,  even  to  the 
smallest  change  of  voice.  She  was,  doubtless, 
quite  sincere  the  whole  time,  and  felt  every  thing 
which  her  voice  expressed ; but  she  felt  it  because 
it  was  proper  to  feel  it,  and  deceived  herself 
probably  more  than  she  deceived  any  one  about  her. 

A curious  phase  of  human  nature  is  that  same 
play-acting,  effect-studying  temperament,  which  ends, 
if  indulged  in  too  much,  in  hopeless  self-deception, 
and  “the  hypocrisy  which,”  as  Mr.  Carlyle  says, 
“is  honestly  indignant  that  you  should  think  it  hypo- 
critical.” It  is  common  enough  among  negresses, 
and  among  colored  people  too ; but  is  it  so  very 
uncommon  among  whites  ? Is  it  not  the  bane  of 
too  many  Irish  ? of  too  many  modern  French  ? of 
certain  English,  for  that  matter,  whom  I have  known 
who  probably  had  no  drop  of  French  or  Irish  blood 
in  their  veins  ? But  it  is  all  the  more  baneful  the 
higher  the  organization  is,  because  the  more  bril- 
liant the  intellect,  the  more  noble  the  instincts,  the 
more  able  its  victim  is  to  say,  “ See ; I feel  what 


SORROW. 


227 


I ought;  I say  what  I ought;  I do  what  I ought; 
and  what  more  would  you  have  ? Why  do  you 
Philistines  persist  in  regarding  me  with  distrust  and 
ridicule  ? What  is  this  common  honesty,  and  what 
is  this  4 single  eye  ’ which  you  suspect  me  of  not 
possessing  ? ” 


CCIIL 

You  know  that  afflictions  do  come  — terrible  be- 
reavements, sorrows  sad  and  strange.  But  from 
whom  do  they  come  ? Who  is  Lord  of  life  and 
death  ? Who  is  Lord  of  joy  and  sorrow  ? Is  not 
that  the  question  of  all  questions  ? And  is  not  the 
answer  the  most  essential  of  all  answers  ? It  is 
the  Holy  Spirit  of  God ; the  Spirit  who  proceedeth 
from  the  Father  and  the  Son ; the  Spirit  of  the 
Father  who  so  loved  the  world  that  he  gave  his 
only  begotten  Son ; the  Spirit  of  the  Son  who  so 
loved  the  world  that  he  stooped  to  die  for  it  upon 
the  cross ; the  Spirit  who  is  promised  to  lead  you 
into  all  truth,  that  you  may  know  God,  and  in  the 
knowledge  of  him  find  everlasting  life ; the  Spirit 
who  is  the  Comforter  and  says  “I  have  seen  thy 
ways  and  will  heal  thee,  I will  lead  thee  also,  and 
restore  comforts  to  thee  and  to  thy  mourners.  I 
speak  peace  to  him  that  is  near,  and  to  him  that 
is  far  off,  saith  the  Lord ; and  I will  heal  him/* 


228 


LIVING  TRUTHS. 


Is  it  not  the  most  blessed  news,  that  he  who  takes 
away  is  the  very  same  as  he  who  gives  ? That  he 
who  afflicts  is  the  very  same  as  he  who  comforts? 

CCIV. 

The  comfort  which  poor  human  beings  want  in 
such  a world  as  this  is  not  the  comfort  of  ease, 
but  the  comfort  of  strength.  The  comforter  whom 
we  need  is  not  one  who  will  merely  say  kind 
things,  but  give  help  — help  to  the  weary  and  heavy- 
laden  heart  which  has  no  time  to  rest.  We  need 
not  the  sunny  and  smiling  face,  but  the  strong  and 
helping  arm.  For  we  may  be  in  that  state  that 
smiles  are  shocking  to  us  and  mere  kindness  — 
though  we  may  be  grateful  for  it  — of  no  more 
comfort  to  us  than  sweet  music  to  a drowning 
man.  We  may  be  miserable  and  unable  to  help 
being  miserable,  and  unwilling  to  help  it  too.  We 
lo  not  wish  to  flee  from  our  sorrow ; we  do  not 
wish  to  forget  our  sorrow.  We  dare  not ; it  is  so 
awful,  so  heartrending,  so  plain-spoken,  that  God, 
the  master  and  tutor  of  our  hearts,  must  wish  us 
to  face  it  and  endure  it.  Our  Father  has  given 
us  the  cup  — shall  we  not  drink  it?  But  who  will 
help  us  to  drink  the  bitter  cup?  Who  will  be  the 
comforter  and  give  us,  not  mere  kind  words,  but 
strength  ? 


SORROW. 


229 


God  answers: — That  Comforter  am  I,  the  God 
of  heaven  and  earth.  There  are  comforters  on 
earth  who  can  help  thee  with  wise  words  and  noble 
counsel,  can  be  strong  as  man  and  tender  as  woman. 
But  God  can  be  more  strong  than  man,  and  more 
tender  than  woman  likewise.  And  when  the  strong 
arm  of  man  supports  thee  no  longer,  yet  under 
thee  are  the  everlasting  arms  of  God. 

CCY. 

If  our  Lord’s  triumph  had  had  no  suffering  be- 
fore it  — if  he  had  conquered  as  the  Hindoos  rep- 
resent their  gods  as  conquering  their  enemies  with- 
out effort,  without  pain,  destroying  them  with  care- 
less ease  by  lightning  hurled  by  a hundred  hands 
and  aided  by  innumerable  armies  of  spirits,  what 
would  such  a triumph  have  been  to  us?  What  com- 
fort, what  example  to  us  here  struggling,  often  sin- 
ning, in  this  piece-meal  world?  We  want  — and 
blessed  be  God,  we  have  — a Captain  of  our  salva- 
tion, who  has  been  made  perfect  by  sufferings. 
We  want  — and  blessed  be  God  we  have  — an  High 
Priest  who  can  be  touched  with  the  feeling  of  our 
infirmities  because  he  has  been  tempted  in  all 
things  like  as  we  are  yet  without  sin.  We  want  — 
and  blessed  be  God  we  have  — a King  who  was 
glorified  by  suffering,  that,  if  we  are  ever  called  on 


230 


LIVING  TRUTHS. 


to  sacrifice  ourselves,  we  may  hope,  by  suffering, 
to  share  his  glory. 


CCVI. 

The  merry,  merry  lark  was  up  and  singing, 

And  the  hare  was  out  and  feeding  on  the  lea, 
And  the  merry,  merry  bells  below  were  ringing, 
When  my  child’s  laugh  rang  through  me. 

Now  the  hare  is  snared  and  dead  beside  the  snow- 
yard, 

And  the  lark  beside  the  dreary  winter  sea, 

And  my  baby  in  his  cradle  in  the  churchyard 
Waiteth  there  until  the  bells  bring  me. 

CCVII. 

Whenever  you  think  of  our  Lord’s  resurrection  and 
ascension,  remember  always  that  the  background  to 
his  triumph  is  — a tomb.  Remember  that  it  is  the 
triumph  over  suffering;  a triumph  of  One  who  still 
bears  the  prints  of  the  nails  in  his  hands  and  in 
his  feet,  and  the  wound  of  the  spear  in  his  side ; 
like  many  a poor  soul  who  has  followed  him  tri- 
umphant at  last,  and  yet  scarred,  and  only  not 
maimed  in  the  hard  battle  of  life.  Remember  forever 
the  adorable  wounds  of  Christ.  Remember  forever 


WOMAN. 


231 


that  St.  John  saw  in  the  midst  of  the  throne  of 
God  the  likeness  of  a lamb,  as  it  had  been  slain. 
For  so  alone  you  will  learn  what  our  Lord’s  resur- 
rection and  ascension  are  to  all  who  have  to  suffer 
and  to  toil  on  earth. 


CCVIIL 

Torfrida  was  a brave  maiden ; and  what  was 
more,  she  loved  Hereward,  the  Wake,  with  all  her 
heart.  Else  why  endure  bitter  words  for  his  sake  ? 
And  she  set  herself  to  teach  and  train  the  wild 
outlaw  into  her  ideal  of  a very  perfect  knight. 

She  talked  to  him  of  modesty  and  humility,  the 
root  of  all  virtues ; of  chivalry  and  self-sacrifice ; 
of  respect  to  the  weak,  and  mercy  to  the  fallen  ; 
of  devotion  to  God,  and  awe  of  his  commandments. 
She  set  before  him  the  example  of  ancient  heroes 
and  philosophers,  of  saints  and  martyrs ; and  as 

much  awed  him  by  her  learning,  as  by  the  new 

world  of  higher  and  purer  morality,  which  was 

opened  for  the  first  time  to  the  wandering  Viking. 

He,  for  his  part,  drank  it  all  in.  Taught  by  a 
woman  who  loved  him,  he  could  listen  to  humiliat- 
ing truths,  which  he  would  have  sneered  at,  had 

they  come  from  the  lips  of  a hermit  or  a priest. 
Often  he  rebelled  ; often  he  broke  loose,  and  made 
her  angry,  and  himself  ashamed ; but  the  spell 


232 


LIVING  TRUTHS. 


was  upon  him  — a far  surer,  as  well  as  purer 
spell  than  any  love-potion  of  which  Torfrida  had 
ever  dreamed  — the  only  spell  which  can  really 
civilize  man  — that  of  woman’s  tact  and  woman’s 
purity. 


CCIX. 

I have  heard  it  said  that  a woman’s  intellect  is 
not  fit  for  business ; that  when  a woman  takes  to 
business,  she  is  apt  to  do  it  ill,  and  unpleasantly 
likewise ; to  be  more  suspicious,  more  irritable, 
more  grasping,  more  unreasonable,  than  regular 
men  of  business  would  be  ; that,  as  I have  heard 
it  put,  “A  woman  does  not  fight  - fair.”  The 
answer  is  simple : that  a woman’s  intellect  is 

eminently  fitted  for  business  is  proved  by  the 
enormous  amount  of  business  she  gets  through 
without  any  special  training  for  it : but  those  faults 
in  a woman  of  which  some  men  complain  are 
simply  the  results  of  her  not  having  had  a special 
training.  She  does  not  know  the  laws  of  business. 
She  does  not  know  the  rules  of  the  game  she  is 
playing;  and  therefore  she  is  playing  it  in  the  dark, 
in  fear  and  suspicion,  apt  to  judge  of  questions 
on  personal  grounds,  often  those  with  whom  she 
has  to  do,  and  oftener  still  making  herself  miser- 
able over  matters  of  law  or  of  business,  on  which 


WOMAN. 


233 


a little  sound  knowledge  would  set  head  and  heart 
at  rest. 

When  I have  seen  widows  having  the  care  of 
children,  of  a great  household,  of  a great  estate, 
of  a great  business,  struggling  heroically,  and  yet 
often  mistakenly;  blamed  severely  for  selfishness 
and  ambition,  while  they  were  really  sacrificing 
themselves  with  the  divine  instinct  of  a mother  for 
their  children’s  interests,  I have  stood  by  with 
mingled  admiration  and  pity,  and  said  to  myself, 
“ How  nobly  she  is  doing  the  work  without  teach- 
ing ! How  much  more  nobly  would  she  have  done 
it  had  she  been  taught ! She  is  now  doing  the 
work  at  the  most  enormous  waste  of  energy.  Had 
she  had  knowledge,  thrift  would  have  followed  it ; 
she  would  have  done  more  work  with  far  less 
trouble.  She  will  probably  kill  herself  if  she  goes 
on.  Sound  knowledge  would  have  saved  her  health, 
saved  her  heart,  saved  her  friends,  and  helped  the 
very  loved  ones  for  whom  she  labors,  not  always 
with  success.” 

ccx. 

Fresh  from  the  marbles  of  the  British  Museum, 

I went  my  way  through  London  streets.  My  brain 
was  still  full  of  fair  and  grand  forms ; the  forms 
of  men  and  women  whose  every  limb  and  attitude 


234 


LIVING  TRUTHS. 


betokened  perfect  health,  and  grace,  and  power, 
and  a self-possession  and  self-restraint  so  habitual  and 
complete  that  it  had  become  unconscious,  and 
undistinguishable  from  the  native  freedom  of  the 
savage.  For  I had  been  up  and  down  the  corri- 
dors of  those  Greek  sculptures,  which  remain  as  a 
perpetual  sermon  to  rich  and  poor,  amid  our  arti- 
ficial, unwholesome,  and  it  may  be  decaying  pseudo- 
civilization ; saying  with  looks  more  expressive  than 
all  words,  such  men  and  women  can  be ; for  such 
they  have  been ; and  such  you  may  be  yet,  if 
you  will  use  that  science  of  which  you  too  often 
only  boast.  Above  all,  I had  been  pondering  over 
the  awful  and  yet  tender  beauty  of  the  maiden 
figures  from  the  Parthenon  and  its  kindred  temples. 
And  these,  or  such  as  these,  I thought  to  myself, 
were  the  sisters  of  the  men  who  fought  at  Mara- 
thon and  Salamis ; the  mothers  of  many  a man 
among  the  ten  thousand  whom  Xenophon  led  back 
from  Babylon  to  the  Black  Sea  shore ; the  ances- 
tresses of  many  a man  who  conquered  the  East 
in  Alexander’s  host,  and  fought  with  Porus  in  the 
far  Punjab.  And  were  these  women  mere  dolls  ? 
These  men  mere  gladiators  ? Were  they  not  the 
parents  of  philosophy,  science,  poetry,  the  plastic 
arts  ? We  talk  of  education  now.  Are  we  more 
educated  than  were  the  ancient  Greeks  ? Do  we 
know  any  thing  about  education,  physical,  intellect- 


WOMAN. 


235 


ual,  or  aesthetic,  and  I may  say  moral  likewise  — 
religious  education,  of  course,  in  our  sense  of  the 
word,  they  had  none  — but  do  we  know  any  thing 
about  education  of  which  they  have  not  taught 
us,  at  least  the  rudiments  ? Are  there  not  some 
branches  of  education  which  they  perfected,  once 
and  forever,  leaving  us  northern  barbarians  to 
follow,  or  else  not  to  follow,  their  example  ? To 
produce  health,  that  is,  harmony  and  sympathy, 
proportion  and  grace,  in  every  faculty  of  mind  and 
body — that  was  their  notion  of  education.  To 
produce  that,  the  text-book  of  their  childhood  was 
the  poetry  of  Homer,  and  not  of  — but  I am 
treading  on  dangerous  ground.  It  was  for  this  that 
the  seafaring  Greek  lad  was  taught  to  find  his 

ideal  in  Ulysses ; while  his  sister  at  home  found 
hers,  it  may  be,  in  Nausicaa.  It  was  for  this, 

that  when  perhaps  the  most  complete  and  exquis- 
ite of  all  the  Greeks,  Sophocles  the  good,  beloved 

by  gods  and  men,  represented  on  the  Athenian 

stage  his  drama  of  Nausicaa , and,  as  usual,  could 
not  — for  he  had  no  voice  — himself  take  a speak- 
ing part,  he  was  content  to  do  one  thing  in  which 
he  specially  excelled ; and  dressed  and  masked  as 
a girl,  to  play  at  ball  amid  the  chorus  of  Nau- 
sicaa’s  maidens. 

That  drama  of  Nausicaa  is  lost ; and  if  I dare 
say  so  of  any  play  of  Sophocles’,  I scarce  regret 


236 


LIVING  TRUTHS. 


it.  It  is  well,  perhaps,  that  we  have  no  second 
conception  of  the  scene,  to  interfere  with  the  sim- 
plicity, so  grand,  and  yet  so  tender,  of  Homer’s 
idyllic  episode. 

CCXIo 

Fair  Nausicaa  must  have  been  — some  will  say 
— surely  a mere  child  of  nature,  and  an  unculti- 
vated person. 

So  far  from  it,  that  her  whole  demeanor  and 
speech  show  culture  of  the  very  highest  sort  full 
of  “ sweetness  and  light.”  Intelligent  and  fearless, 
quick  to  perceive  the  character  of  Ulysses,  quick 
to  answer  his  lofty  and  refined  pleading,  by  words 
as  lofty  and  refined,  and  pious  withal,  for  it  is 
she  who  speaks  to  her  handmaids  the  once  so 
famous  words  : 

“ Strangers  and  poor  men  all  are  sent  from 
Zeus  ; 

And  alms  though  small,  are  sweet.” 

Clear  of  intellect,  prompt  of  action,  modest  of 
demeanor,  shrinking  from  the  slightest  breath  of 
scandal  ; while  she  is  not  ashamed,  when  Ulysses, 
bathed  and  dressed,  looks  himself  again,  to  whis- 
per to  her  maidens  her  wish  that  the  gods  might 


WOMAN. 


237 


send  her  such  a spouse.  This  is  Nausicaa  as 
Homer  draws  her ; and  as  many  a scholar  and 
poet  since  Homer  has  accepted  her  for  the  ideal  of 
noble  maidenhood.  I ask  my  readers  to  study  for 
themselves  her  interview  with  Ulysses,  in  Mr. 
Worsley’s  translation,  or  rather  in  the  grand  sim- 
plicity of  the  original  Greek  (Odyssey,  Book 
VI.  pp.  127-315;  vol.  I.  pp.  143- 150  of  Mr. 
Worsley’s  translation),  and  judge  whether  Nausicaa 
is  not  as  perfect  a lady  as  the  poet  who  imagined 
her  — or  it  may  be,  drew  her  from  life  — must 
have  been  a perfect  gentleman  — both  complete  in 
those  “ manners  ” which,  says  the  old  proverb, 
“make  the  man;”  but  which  are  the  woman  her- 
self; because  with  her  — who  acts  more  by  emo- 
tion than  by  calculation  — manners  are  the  out- 
ward and  visible  tokens  of  her  inward  and  spiritual 
grace  or  disgrace ; and  flow  instinctively,  whether 
good  or  bad,  from  the  instincts  of  her  inner  nature. 

True,  Nausicaa  could  neither  read  nor  write. 
No  more,  most  probably,  could  the  author  of  the 
Odyssey.  No  more,  for  that  matter,  could  Abra- 
ham, Isaac,  and  Jacob,  though  they  were  plainly, 
both  in  mind  and  manners,  most  highly  cultivated 
men.  Reading  and  writing,  of  course,  have  now 
become  necessaries  of  humanity ; and  are  to  be 
given  to  every  human  being,  that  he  may  start 
fair  in  the  race  of  life.  But  I am  not  aware  that 


238 


LIVING  TRUTHS. 


Greek  women  improved  much,  either  in  manners, 
morals,  or  happiness,  by  acquiring  them  in  after 
centuries.  A wise  man  would  sooner  see  his 
daughter  a Nausicaa  than  a Sappho,  an  Aspasia, 
a Cleopatra,  or  even  an  Hypatia. 

CCXII. 

There  was  once  a science  called  physiognomy. 
The  Greeks,  from  what  I can  learn,  knew  more 
of  it  than  any  people  since;  though  the  Italian 

painters  and  sculptors  must  have  known  much  ; far 
more  than  we.  In  a more  scientific  civilization 
there  will  be  such  a science  once  more : but  its 
laws  though  still  in  the  empiric  stage,  are  not 
altogether  forgotten  by  some.  Little  children  have 
often  a fine  and  clear  instinct  of  them  likewise. 

And  some  such  would  tell  us  that  there  is  intellect 
in  plenty  in  the  modern  Nausicaa  : but  not  of  the 

quality  which  they  desire  for  their  country’s  future 
good.  Self-consciousness,  eagerness,  volubility,  petu- 
lance, in  countenance,  in  gesture,  and  in  voice  — 
which  last  is  too  often  most  harsh  and  artificial, 
the  breath  being  sent  forth  through  the  closed 

teeth,  and  almost  entirely  at  the  corners  of  the 
mouth  — and,  with  all  this,  a weariness  often  about 
the  wrinkling  forehead  and  the  drooping  lids;  — all 
these,  which  are  growing  too  common,  not  among 


WOMAN. 


239 


the  Demos  only,  nor  only  in  the  towns,  are  signs, 
they  think,  of  the  unrest,  of  unhealth,  physical, 
intellectual,  spiritual.  At  least  they  are  as  different 
as  two  types  of  physiognomy  in  the  same  race  can 
be  from  the  expression  both  of  face  and  gesture, 
in  those  old  Greek  sculptures,  and  in  the  old 
Italian  painters ; and,  it  must  be  said,  in  the 
portraits  of  Reynolds  and  Gainsborough,  Copley, 
and  Romney.  Not  such,  one  thinks,  must  have 
been  the  mothers  of  Britain  during  the  latter  half 
of  the  last  century  and  the  beginning  of  the 
present ; when  their  sons,  at  times,  were  holding 
half  the  world  at  bay. 

And  if  Nausicaa  has  become  such  in  town,  what 
is  she  when  she  goes  to  the  seaside,  not  to  wash 
the  clothes  in  fresh  water,  but  herself  in  salt  — 
the  very  salt  water,  laden  with  decaying  organisms, 
from  which  though  not  polluted  further  by  a dozen 
sewers,  Ulysses  had  to  cleanse  himself,  anointing, 
too,  with  oil,  ere  he  was  fit  to  appear  in  the 
company  of  Nausicaa  of  Greece.  She  cannot 
cleanse  herself  with  the  filthy  salt  water;  and 
probably  chills  and  tires  herself  by  walking  thither 
and  back  and  staying  in  too  long;  and  then 
flaunts  on  the  pier,  bedizened  in  garments  which, 
for  monstrosity  of  form  and  disharmony  of  colors, 
would  have  set  that  Greek  Nausicaa’s  teeth  on 
edge,  or  those  of  any  average  Hindoo  woman  now. 


240 


LIVING  TRUTHS. 


Or,  even  sadder  still,  she  sits  on  chairs  and  benches 
all  the  weary  afternoon,  her  head  dropped  on  her 
chest,  over  some  novel  from  the  “ Library,’’  and 
then  returns  to  tea  and  shrimps,  and  lodgings  of 
which  the  fragrance  is  not  unsuggestive,  sometimes 
not  unproductive  of  typhoid  fever.  Ah,  poor 
Nausicaa  of  England  ! That  is  a sad  sight  to 
some  who  think  about  the  present,  and  have  read 
about  the  past. 

It  is  not  a sad  sight  to  see  your  old  father  — 
tradesman,  or  clerk,  or  what  not  — who  has  done 

good  work  in  his  day,  and  hopes  to  do  some 

more,  sitting  by  your  old  mother  who  has  done 
good  work  in  her  day  — honest,  kindly,  cheerful 
folk  enough,  and  not  inefficient  in  their  own  calling ; 
though  an  average  Northumbrian,  or  Highlander,  or 
Irish  Easterling,  beside  carrying  a brain  of  five 
times  the  intellectual  force,  could  drive  five  such 

men  over  the  cliff  with  his  bare  hands.  It  is  not 

a sad  sight,  I say,  to  see  them  sitting  about  upon 
those  seaside  benches,  looking  out  listlessly  at  the 
water,  and  the  ships,  and  the  sunlight,  and  enjoy- 
ing, like  so  many  flies  upon  a wall,  the  novel  act 
of  doing  nothing.  It  is  not  the  old  for  whom  wise 
men  are  sad:  but  for  you.  Where  is  your  vitality? 
Where  is  your  “ Lebensgliickseligkeit,”  your  enjoy- 
ment of  superfluous  life  and  power?  Why  can  you 
not  even  dance  and  sing,  till  now  and  then,  at 


WOMAN. 


241 


night,  perhaps,  when  you  ought  to  be  safe  in  bed, 
but  when  the  weak  brain,  after  receiving  the  day’s 
nourishment,  has  roused  itself  a second  time  into 
a false  excitement  of  gaslight  pleasure  ? What 
there  is  left  of  it  is  all  going  into  some  foolish 
novel,  which  the  womanly  element  in  you,  still 
healthy  and  alive,  delights  in ; because  it  places 
you  in  fancy  in  situations  in  which  you  will  never 
stand,  and  inspires  you  with  emotions,  some  of 
which,  it  may  be,  you  had  better  never  feel. 
Poor  Nausicaa — old,  some  men  think,  before  you 
have  been  ever  young. 

And  now  they  are  going  to  “ develop”  you;  and 
let  you  have  your  share  in  “ the  higher  education 
of  women,”  by  making  you  read  more  books,  and 
do  more  sums,  and  pass  examinations,  and  stoop 
over  desks  at  night  after  stooping  over  some  other 
employment  all  day ; and  to  teach  you  Latin,  and 
even  Greek. 

Well,  we  will  gladly  teach  you  Greek,  if  you 
learn  thereby  to  read  the  history  of  Nausicaa  of 
old,  and  what  manner  of  maiden  she  was,  and 
what  was  her  education.  You  will  admire  her, 
doubtless.  But  do  not  let  your  admiration  limit 
itself  to  drawing  a meagre,  half-mediaevalized  de- 
sign of  her  — as  she  never  looked.  Copy  in  your 
own  person ; and  even  if  you  do  not  descend  as 
low  — or  rise  as  high  — as  washing  the  household 


242 


LIVING  TRUTHS. 


clothes,  at  least  learn  to  play  at  ball ; and  sing 
in  the  open  air  and  sunshine,  not  in  theatres  and 
concert-rooms  by  gas-light ; and  take  decent  care  of 
your  own  health;  and  dress,  not  like  a “ Parisienne ” 

— nor,  of  course,  like  Nausicaa  of  old,  for  that  is 
to  ask  too  much; — but  somewhat  more  like  an 
average  Highland  lassie;  and  try  to  look  like  her 
and  be  like  her,  of  whom  Wordsworth  sang. 

CCXIII. 

I verily  believe  that  any  young  lady  who  would 
employ  some  of  her  leisure  time  in  collecting  wild 
flowers,  carefully  examining  them,  verifying  them, 
and  arranging  them ; or  who  would  in  her  sum- 
mer trip  to  the  sea-coast  do  the  same  by  the  com- 
mon objects  of  the  shore,  instead  of  wasting  her 
holiday,  as  one  sees  hundreds  doing,  in  lounging 
on  benches  and  criticising  dresses  — that  such  a 
young  lady,  I say,  would  not  only  open  her  own 
mind  to  a world  of  wonder,  beauty,  and  wisdom, 
which,  if  it  did  not  make  her  a more  reverent 
and  pious  soul,  she  cannot  be  the  woman  which  I 
take  for  granted  she  is ; but  would  save  herself 
from  the  habit  — I had  almost  said  the  necessity 

— of  gossip ; because  she  would  have  things  to 
think  of  and  not  merely  persons  ; facts  instead  of 
fancies ; while  she  would  acquire  something  of  ac- 


WOMAN. 


243 


curacy,  of  patience,  of  methodical  observation  and 
judgment,  which  would  stand  her  in  good  stead  in 
the  events  of  daily  life,  and  increase  her  power  of 
bridling  her  tongue  and  her  imagination.  “ God  is 
in  heaven,  and  thou  upon  earth  ; therefore  let  thy 
words  be  few,”  is  the  lesson  which  those  are  learn- 
ing all  day  long  who  study  the  works  of  God 
with  reverent  accuracy,  lest  by  misrepresenting  them 
they  should  be  tempted  to  say  that  God  has  done 
that  which  he  has  not ; and  in  that  wholesome 
discipline  I long  that  women  as  well  as  men 
should  share. 


CCXIV. 

Let  me  ask  women  to  educate  themselves,  not 
for  their  own  sakes,  merely,  but  for  the  sake  of 
others.  For,  whether  they  will  or  not,  they  must 
educate  others.  I do  not  speak  merely  of  those 
who  may  be  engaged  in  the  work  of  direct  teach- 
ing ; that  they  ought  to  be  well  taught  themselves, 
who  can  doubt?  I speak  of  those  — and  in  so  doing 
I speak  of  every  woman,  young  and  old  — who  ex- 
ercises as  wife,  as  mother,  as  aunt,  as  sister,  or  as 
friend,  an  influence,  indirect  it  may  be,  and  uncon- 
scious, but  still  potent  and  practical,  on  the  minds 
and  characters  of  those  about  them,  especially  of 
men.  How  potent  and  practical  that  influence  is, 


LIVING  TRUTHS. 


244 

those  know  best  who  know'  most  of  the  w'orld  and 
most  of  human  nature.  There  are  those  who  con- 
sider— and  I agree  with  them  — that  the  educa- 
tion of  boys  under  the  age  of  twelve  years,  ought 
to  be  entrusted  as  much  as  possible  to  women. 
Let  me  ask,  of  what  period  of  youth  and  of 
manhood  does  not  the  same  hold  true  ? I pity 
the  ignorance  and  conceit  of  the  man  who  fancies 
that  he  has  nothing  left  to  learn  from  cultivated 
women.  I should  have  thought  that  the  very  mis- 
sion of  woman  was  to  be  in  the  highest  sense  the 
educator  of  man  from  infancy  to  old  age ; that 
that  w'as  the  work  towards  which  all  the  God- 
given  capacities  of  women  pointed ; for  which  they 
vrere  to  be  educated  to  the  highest  pitch.  I should 
have  thought  that  it  was  the  glory  of  woman  that 
she  was  sent  into  the  world  to  live  for  others, 
rather  than  for  herself ; and  therefore  I should  say, 
Let  her  smallest  rights  be  respected,  her  smallest 
wrongs  redressed ; but  let  her  never  be  persuaded 
to  forget  that  she  is  sent  into  the  world  to  teach 
man  — what,  I believe,  she  has  been  teaching  him 
all  along,  even  in  the  savage  state  — namely,  that 
there  is  something  more  necessary  than  the  claim- 
ing of  rights,  and  that  is,  the  performing  of  duties; 
to  teach  him  specially,  in  these  so-called  intellec- 
tual days,  that  there  is  something  more  than  intel- 
lect, and  that  is  — purity  and  virtue.  Let  her 


WOMAN. 


245 


never  be  persuaded  to  forget  that  her  calling  is 
not  the  lower  and  more  earthly  one  of  self-asser- 
tion, but  the  higher  and  the  diviner  calling  of  self- 
sacrifice  ; and  let  her  never  desert  that  higher  life 
which  lives  in  others  and  for  others,  like  her 
Redeemer  and  her  Lord. 

And  if  any  should  answer  that  this  doctrine 
would  keep  woman  a dependent  and  a slave,  I 
rejoin — not  so:  it  would  keep  her  what  she  should 
be,  the  mistress  of  all  around  her,  because  the  mis- 
tress of  herself.  And  more,  I should  express  a 
fear  that  those  who  made  that  answer  had  not  yet 
seen  into  the  mystery  of  true  greatness  and  true 
strength;  that  they  did  not  yet  understand  the 
true  magnanimity,  the  true  royalty  of  that  spirit 
by  which  the  Son  of  Man  came,  not  to  be  minis- 
tered unto,  but  to  minister,  and  to  give  his  life 
a ransom  for  many. 


ccxv. 

Surely  woman’s  calling  is  to  teach  man ; and  to 
teach  him  what  ? to  teach  him,  after  all,  that  his 
calling  is  the  same  as  hers,  if  he  will  but  see  the 
things  which  belong  to  his  peace.  To  temper  his 
fiercer,  coarser,  more  self-assertive  nature,  by  the 
contact  of  her  gentleness,  purity,  self-sacrifice.  To 
make  him  see  that  not  by  blare  of  trumpets,  not 


246 


LIVING  TRUTHS, 


by  noise,  wrath,  greed,  ambition,  intrigue,  puffery,  is 
good  and  lasting  work  to  be  done  on  earth ; but 
by  wise  self-distrust,  by  silent  labor,  by  lofty  self- 
control,  by  that  charity  which  hopeth  all  things, 
believeth  all  things,  endureth  all  things ; by  such 
an  example,  in  short,  as  women  now  in  tens  of 
thousands  set  to  those  around  them ; such  as  they 
will  show  more  and  more,  the  more  their  whole 
womanhood  is  educated  to  employ  its  powers 
without  waste,  and  without  haste  in  harmonious 
unity. 

CCXVI. 

Is  not  the  highest  heroism  that  which  is  free 
even  from  the  approbation  of  the  best  and  wisest? 
The  heroism  which  is  known  only  to  our  Father, 
who  seeth  in  secret  ? The  God-like  deeds  alone  in 
the  lonely  chamber  ? The  God-like  lives  lived  in 

obscurity?  — a heroism  rare  among  us  men,  who  live 
perforce  in  the  glare  and  noise  of  the  outer 

world ; more  common  among  women ; women  of 

whom  the  world  never  hears;  who,  if  the  world 

discovered  them,  would  only  draw  the  veil  more 

closely  over  their  faces  and  their  hearts,  and  entreat 
to  be  left  alone  with  God.  True,  they  cannot  always 
hide.  They  must  not  always  hide,  or  their  fellow- 
creatures  would  lose  the  golden  lesson.  But,  never- 


WOMAN. 


247 


theless,  it  is  of  the  essence  of  the  perfect  and 

womanly  heroism  in  which,  as  in  all  spiritual 

forces,  woman  transcends  the  man,  that  it  would 
hide  if  it  could. 

And  it  was  a pleasant  thought  to  me,  when  I 
glanced  at  the  golden  deeds  of  woman  in  Miss 

Yonge’s  book  - — it  was  a pleasant  thought  to  me, 
that  I could  say  to  myself  — Ah ! yes.  These 
heroines  are  known,  and  their  fame  flies  through 
the  mouths  of  men.  But  if  so,  how  many  thousands 
of  heroines  there  must  have  been,  how  many 
thousands  there  may  be  now,  of  whom  we  shall 

never  know.  But  still  they  are  there.  They  sow 
in  secret  the  seed  of  which  we  pluck  the  flower, 
and  eat  the  fruit,  and  know  not  that  we  pass  the 
sower  daily  in  the  street ; perhaps  some  humble, 
ill-dressed  woman,  earning  painfully  her  own  small 
sustenance.  She  who  nurses  a bed-ridden  mother 
instead  of  sending  her  to  the  workhouse.  She 
who  spends  her  heart  and  her  money  on  a drunken 
father,  a reckless  brother,  on  the  orphans  of  a 
* kinsman  or  a friend.  She  who  — but  why  go  on 
with  the  long  list  of  great  little  heroisms,  with 
which  a clergyman  at  least  comes  in  contact 
daily  — and  it  is  one  of  the  most  ennobling  privi- 
leges of  a clergyman’s  high  calling  that  he  does 
come  in  contact  with  them  — why  go  on,  I 
say,  save  to  commemmorate  one  more  form  of 


248 


LIVING  TRUTHS. 


heroism  — the  commonest,  and  yet  the  least  remem- 
bered of  all  — namely,  the  heroism  of  the  average 
mother?  Ah!  when  I think  of  that  last  broad 
fact,  I gather  hope  again  for  poor  humanity ; and 
this  dark  world  looks  bright,  this  diseased  world 
looks  wholesome  to  me  once  more  — because,  what- 
ever else  it  is  or  is  not  full  of,  it  is  at  least  full 
of  mothers. 


CCXVII. 

“ But  what  do  you  believe,  Tregarva  ? ” said 
Lancelot. 

“ I believe  this,  sir,  and  your  cousin  will  believe 
the  same,  if  he  will  only  give  up,  as  I am  sore 
afraid  he  will  need  to  some  day,  sticking  to  ar- 
guments and  doctrines  about  the  Lord,  and  love 
and  trust  the  Lord  himself.  I believe,  sir,  that  the 
Judge  of  all  the  earth  will  do  right  — and  what’s 
right  can’t  be  wrong,  nor  cruel  either,  else  it  would 
not  be  like  him  who  loved  us  to  the  death. 
That’s  all  I know;  and  that’s  enough  for  me.* 
To  whom  little  is  given,  of  him  little  is  required. 
He  that  didn’t  know  his  Master’s  will,  will  be 
beaten  with  few  stripes,  and  he  that  did  know  it, 
as  I do,  will  be  beaten  with  many,  if  he  neglects 
it  — and  that  latter,  not  the  former,  is  my  con- 


cern. 


BELIEF. 


249 


CCXVIII. 

“Thou  knowest,”  said  Pambo,  with  a smile,  to 
Arsenius,  “ that,  like  many  holy  men  of  old,  I am 
no  scholar,  and  knew  not  even  the  Greek  tongue, 
till  thou,  out  of  thy  brotherly  kindness,  taughtest 
it  to  me.  But  hast  thou  never  heard  what  An- 
thony said  to  a certain  Pagan  who  reproached  him 
with  his  ignorance  of  books  ? 4 Which  is  first/  he 

asked,  4 spirit  or  letter  ? — Spirit,  sayest  thou  ? 
Then  know  the  healthy  spirit  needs  no  letters. 
My  book  is  the  whole  creation,  lying  open  before 
me,  wherein  I can  read,  whensoever  I please,  the 
word  of  God.’  ” 

44  Dost  thou  not  undervalue  learning,  my  friend  ? ” 
44 1 am  old  among  monks,  and  have  seen  much 
of  their  ways ; and  among  them  my  simplicity 
seems  to  have  seen  this  — many  a man  wearing 
himself  with  study,  and  tormenting  his  soul  as  to 
whether  he  believed  rightly  this  doctrine  and  that, 
while  he  knew  not  with  Solomon  that  in  much 
learning  is  much  sorrow,  and  that  while  he  was 
puzzling  at  the  letter  of  God’s  message,  the  spirit 
of  it  was  going  fast  and  faster  out  of  him.” 

44 And  how  didst  thou  know  that  of  such  a man?” 
44  By  seeing  him  become  a more  and  more  learned 
theologian,  and  more  and  more  zealous  for  the 
letter  of  orthodoxy ; and  yet  less  and  less  loving 


250 


LIVING  TRUTHS. 


and  merciful — less  and  less  full  of  trust  in  God, 
and  of  hopeful  thoughts  for  himself  and  for  his 
brethren,  till  he  seemed  to  have  darkened  his  whole 
soul  with  disputations,  which  breed  only  strife,  and 
to  have  forgotten  utterly  the  message  which  is 
written  in  that  book  wherewith  the  blessed  Anthony 
was  content. ” 

“ Of  what  message  dost  thou  speak  ? ” 

“ Look,”  said  the  old  abbot,  stretching  his  hand 
toward  the  eastern  desert,  “ and  judge,  like  a wise 
man,  for  thyself  ! ” 

As  he  spoke,  a long  arrow  of  level  light  flashed 
down  the  gorge  from  crag  to  crag,  awakening  every 
crack  and  slab  to  vividness  and  life.  The  great 
crimson  sun  rose  swiftly  through  the  dim  night- 
mist  of  the  desert,  and  as  he  poured  his  glory 
down  the  glen,  the  haze  rose  in  threads  and  plumes 
and  vanished,  leaving  the  stream  to  sparkle  round 
the  rocks,  like  the  living,  twinkling  eye  of  the 
whole  scene.  Swallows  flashed  by  hundreds  out  of 
the  cliff,  and  began  their  air-dance  for  the  day ; 
the  jerboa  hopped  stealthily  homeward  on  his  stilts 
from  his  stolen  meal  in  the  monastery  garden ; the 
brown  sand-lizards  underneath  the  stones  opened 
one  eyelid  each,  and  having  satisfied  themselves 
that  it  was  day,  dragged  their  bloated  bodies  and 
whip-like  tails  out  into  the  most  burning  patch  of 
gravel  which  they  could  find,  and  nestling  together 


BELIEF. 


251 


as  a further  protection  against  cold,  fell  fast  asleep 
again  ; the  buzzard,  who  considered  himself  lord  of 
the  valley,  awoke  with  a long  querulous  bark,  and 
rising  aloft  in  two  or  three  vast  rings,  to  stretch 
himself  after  his  night’s  sleep,  hung  motionless, 
watching  every  lark  which  chirruped  on  the  cliffs; 
while  from  the  far-off  Nile  below,  the  awakening 
croak  of  pelicans,  the  clang  of  geese,  the  whistle 
of  the  godwit  and  curlew,  came  ringing  up  the 
windings  of  the  glen ; and  last  of  all  the  voices 
of  the  monks  rose  chanting  a morning  hymn  to 
some  wild  Eastern  air;  and  a new  day  had 
begun  in  Scetis,  like  those  which  went  before,  and 
those  which  were  to  follow  after,  week  after  week, 
year  after  year,  of  toil  and  prayer  as  quiet  as  its 
sleep. 

“ What  does  that  teach  thee,  Aufugus  my 
friend  ? ” 

Arsenius  was  silent. 

“To  me  it  teaches  this:  that  God  is  light,  and 
in  him  is  no  darkness  at  all.  That  in  his  presence 
is  life  and  fullness  of  joy  for  evermore.  That  he 
is  the  giver,  who  delights  in  his  own  bounty;  the 
lover,  whose  mercy  is  over  all  his  works  — and 
why  not  over  thee,  too,  O thou  of  little  faith? 
Look  at  those  thousand  birds  — and  without  our 
Father  not  one  of  them  shall  fall  to  the  ground : 
and  art  thou  not  of  more  value  than  many  sparrows. 


252 


LIVING  TRUTHS. 


thou  for  whom  God  sent  his  Son  to  die  ? . . . . 
Ah,  my  friend,  we  must  look  out  and  around  to 
see  what  God  is  like.  It  is  when  we  persist  in 
turning  our  eyes  inward,  and  prying  curiously  over 
our  own  imperfections,  that  we  learn  to  make  a 
God  after  our  own  image,  and  fancy  that  our  own 
darkness  and  hardness  of  heart  are  the  patterns  of 
his  light  and  love.” 

“Thou  speakest  rather  as  a philosopher  than  as 
a penitent  Catholic.  For  me,  I feel  that  I want 
to  look  more,  and  not  less,  inward.  Deeper  self- 
examination,  completer  abstraction,  than  I can 
attain  even  here,  are  what  I crave  for.  I long  — 
forgive  me,  my  friend  — but  I long  more  and  more, 
daily,  for  the  solitary  life.  This  earth  is  accursed 
by  man’s  sin : the  less  we  see  of  it,  it  seems  to 
me,  the  better.” 

“I  may  speak  as  a philosopher,  or  as  a heathen, 
for  aught  I know  : yet  it  seems  to  me  that,  as 
they  say,  the  half  loaf  is  better  than  none ; that 
the  wise  man  will  make  the  best  of  what  he  has, 
and  throw  away  no  lesson  because  the  book  is 
somewhat  torn  and  soiled.  The  earth  teaches  me 
thus  far  already.  Shall  I shut  my  eyes  to  those 
invisible  things  of  God  which  are  clearly  mani- 
fested by  the  things  which  are  made,  because  some 
day  they  will  be  more  clearly  manifested  than 
now  ? ” 


BELIEF. 


253 


CCXIX. 

“Well,  friend  ! ” said  Pambo,  “and  what  if  thou 
art  troubled  at  times  by  anxieties  and  schemes  for 
this  brother  and  for  that  ? Better  to  be  anxious  for 
others  than  only  for  thyself.  Better  to  have  some- 
thing to  love  — even  something  to  weep  over  — 
than  to  become  in  some  lonely  cavern,  thine  own 
world, — perhaps,  as  more  than  one  whom  I have 
known,  thine  own  God.” 

“ Do  you  know  what  you  are  saying  ? ” asked 
Arsenius,  in  a startled  tone. 

“ I say,  that  by  fleeing  into  solitude  a man  cuts 
himself  off  from  all  which  makes  a Christian 
man ; from  law,  obedience,  fellow-help,  self-sacrifice 
— from  the  communion  of  saints  itself.” 

“ How  then  ? ” 

“ How  canst  thou  hold  communion  with  those 
toward  whom  thou  canst  show  no  love?  And  how 
canst  thou  show  thy  love  but  by  works  of  love  ? ” 

“ I can,  at  least,  pray  day  and  night  for  all 
mankind.  Has  that  no  place  — or  rather,  has  it 
not  the  mightiest  place  — in  the  communion  of 
saints  ? ” 

“ He  who  cannot  pray  for  his  brothers  whom  he 
does  see,  and  whose  sins  and  temptations  he 
knows,  will  pray  but  dully,  my  friend  Aufugus,  for 
his  brothers  whom  he  does  not  see,  or  for  any 


254 


LIVING  TRUTHS . 


thing  else.  And  he  who  will  not  labor  for  his 
brothers,  the  same  will  soon  cease  to  pray  for 
them,  or  love  them  either.  And  then,  what  is 
written  ? 4 If  a man  love  not  his  brother  whom  he 

hath  seen,  how  will  he  love  God  whom  he  hath 
not  seen  ? 9 ” 

“ Again,  I say,  do  you  know  whither  your  argu- 
ment leads  ? 19 

“ I am  a plain  man,  and  know  nothing  about 
arguments.  If  a thing  be  true,  let  it  lead  where 
it  will,  for  it  leads  where  God  wills.’, 

ccxx. 

“ Each  man,”  said  Arsenius,  “has  surely  his  voca- 
tion, and  for  each  some  peculiar  method  of  life  is 
more  edifying  than  another.  In  my  case,  the  hab- 
its of  mind  which  I acquired  in  the  world  will 
cling  to  me  in  spite  of  myself  even  here.  I can* 
not  help  watching  the  doings  of  others,  studying 
their  characters,  planning  and  plotting  for  them, 
trying  to  prognosticate  their  future  fate.” 

“And  do  you  fancy  that  the  anchorite  in  his  cell 
has  fewer  distractions?” 

“What  can  he  have  but  the  supply  of  the  mere 
necessary  wants  of  life  ? And  them,  even,  he  may 
abridge  to  the  gathering  of  a few  roots  and  herbs. 
Men  have  lived  like  the  beasts  already,  that  they 


BELIEF. 


255 


might  at  the  same  time  live  like  the  angels  — and 
why  should  not  I also  ? ” 

“ And  thou  art  the  wise  man  of  the  world  — the 
student  of  the  hearts  of  others  — the  anatomizer  of 
thine  own?  Hast  thou  not  found  out  that,  besides 
a craving  stomach,  man  carries  with  him  a corrupt 
heart  ? Many  a man  I have  seen  who,  in  his  haste 
to  fly  from  the  fiends  without  him,  has  forgotten 
to  close  the  door  of  his  heart  against  worse  fiends 
who  were  ready  to  harbor  within  him.  Many  a 
monk,  friend,  changes  his  place,  but  not  the  anguish 
of  his  soul.  I have  known  those  who,  driven  to 
feed  on  their  own  thoughts  in  solitude,  have  des- 
perately cast  themselves  from  cliffs,  or  ripped  up 
their  own  bodies,  in  the  longing  to  escape  from 
thoughts,  from  which  one  companion,  one  kindly 
voice,  might  have  delivered  them.  I have  known 
those,  too,  who  have  been  so  puffed  up  by  those 
very  penances  which  were  meant  to  humble  them, 
that  they  have  despised  all  means  of  grace,  as 
though  they  were  already  perfect,  and  refusing 
even  the  Holy  Eucharist,  have  lived  in  self- 
glorying  dreams  and  visions  suggested  by  the  evil 
spirits. 

CCXXI. 


“Tell  me,”  said  the  Prefect,  to  Raphael  the  Jew, 


LIVING  TRUTHS, 


256 

“ what  it  was  about  which  I heard  you  just  now 

soliloquizing,  as  so  hopeful  a view  of  some  matter 
or  other  ? ” 

“ Honestly  — if  you  will  neither  betray  me  to  your 
son  and  daughter,  nor  consider  me  as  having  in 
any  wise  committed  myself  — it  was  Paul  of  Tarsus’ 
notion  of  the  history  and  destinies  of  our  stiff- 

necked nation.  See  what  your  daughter  has  per- 
suaded me  into  reading ! ” And  he  held  up  a 
manuscript  of  the  Epistle  to  the  Hebrews. 

“ It  is  execrable  Greek.  But  it  is  sound  phil- 

osophy, I cannot  deny.  He  knows  Plato  better 
than  all  the  ladies  and  gentlemen  in  Alexandria 
put  together,  if  my  opinion  on  the  point  be  worth 
having.” 

“I  am  a plain  soldier,  and  no  judge  on  that 
point,  sir.  He  may  or  may  not  know  Plato,  but 
I am  right  sure  that  he  knows  God. 

“Not  too  fast,”  said  Raphael,  with  a smile. 
“ You  do  not  know,  perhaps,  that  I have  spent 
the  last  ten  years  of  my  life  among  men  who 

professed  the  same  knowledge  ? ” 

“ Augustine,  too,  spent  the  best  ten  years  of  his 
life  among  such ; and  yet  he  is  now  combating  the 
very  errors  which  he  once  taught.” 

“ Having  found,  he  fancies,  something  better  ? ” 

“ Having  found  it,  most  truly.  But  you  must 
talk  to  him  yourself,  and  argue  the  matter  over. 


BELIEF. 


257 


with  one  who  can  argue.  To  me  such  questions 
are  an  unknown  land.” 

“Well  ....  Perhaps  I may  be  tempted  to  do 
even  that.  At  least  a thoroughly  converted  phil- 
osopher — for  poor  dear  Synesius  is  half  heathen 
still,  I often  fancy,  and  hankers  after  the  wisdom 
of  the  Egyptian — will  be  a curious  sight;  and  to 
talk  with  so  famous  and  so  learned  a man  would 
always  be  a pleasure ; but  to  argue  with  him,  or 
any  other  human  being,  none  whatsoever.” 

“Why,  then?” 

“ My  dear  sir,  I am  sick  of  syllogisms,  and 
probabilities,  and  pros  and  contras.  What  do 
I care  if,  on  weighing  both  sides,  the  nineteen 
pounds’  weight  of  questionable  arguments  against, 
are  overbalanced  by  the  twenty  pounds’  weight 
of  equally  questionable  arguments  for?  Do  you 
not  see  that  my  belief  of  the  victorious  propo- 
sition will  be  proportioned  to  the  one  over-balancing 
pound  only,  while  the  whole  other  nineteen  will  go 
for  nothing  ? ” 

“I  really  do  not.” 

“ Happy  are  you,  then.  I do,  from  many  a 
sad  experience.  No,  my  worthy  sir.  I want  a 
faith  past  arguments ; one  which,  whether  I can 
prove  it  or  not  to  the  satisfaction  of  the  lawyers, 
I believe  to  my  own  satisfaction,  and  act  on  it 
as  undoubtingly  and  unreasoningly  as  I do  upon 


258 


LIVING  TRUTHS. 


my  own  newly  rediscovered  personal  identity.  I 
don’t  want  to  possess  a faith.  I want  a faith 

which  will  possess  me.  And  if  I ever  arrived 
at  such  a one,  believe  me,  it  would  be  by  some 
such  practical  demonstration  as  this  very  tent  has 
given  me.” 

“This  tent?” 

“Yes,  sir,  this  tent;  within  which  I have  seen 

you  and  your  children  lead  a life  of  deeds  as 
new  to  me  the  Jew,  as  they  would  be  to  Hypatia 
the  Gentile.  I have  watched  you  for  many  a 

day,  and  not  in  vain.  When  I saw  you  an 
experienced  officer,  encumber  your  flight  with 
wounded  men,  I was  only  surprised.  But  since  I 
have  seen  you  and  your  daughter,  and,  strangest 
of  all,  your  gay  young  Alcibiades  of  a son,  starv- 
ing yourselves  to  feed  those  poor  ruffians  — per- 
forming for  them,  day  and  night,  the  offices  of 

menial  slaves  — comforting  them,  as  no  man  ever 
comforted  me  — blaming  no  one  but  yourselves, 
caring  for  every  one  but  yourselves,  sacrificing 

nothing  but  yourselves,  and  all  this  without  hope 
of  fame  or  reward,  or  dream  of  appeasing  the 
wrath  of  any  god  or  goddess,  but  simply  because 

you  thought  it  right When  I saw  that,  sir, 

and  more  which  I have  seen ; and  when,  reading 
in  this  book  here,  I found  most  unexpectedly  those 
very  grand  moral  rules  which  you  were  practicing, 


BELIEF. 


259 


seeming  to  spring  unconsciously,  as  natural  results, 
from  the  great  thoughts,  true  or  false,  which  had 
preceded  them ; then,  sir,  I began  to  suspect  that 
the  creed  which  could  produce  such  deeds  as  I 
have  watched  within  the  last  few  days,  might 
have  on  its  side  not  merely  a slight  preponder- 
ance of  probabilities,  but  what  we  Jews  used  once 
to  call,  when  we  believed  in  it  — or  in  any  thing — • 
the  mighty  power  of  God.” 

And  as  he  spoke,  he  looked  into  the  Prefect's 
face  with  the  look  of  a man  wrestling  in  some 
deadly  struggle ; so  intense  and  terrible  was  the 
earnestness  of  his  eye,  that  even  the  old  soldier 
shrank  before  it. 

“ And  therefore,”  he  went  on,  “ therefore,  sir, 
beware  of  your  own  actions,  and  of  your  children's. 
If,  by  any  folly  or  baseness,  such  as  I have  seen 
in  every  human  being  whom  I ever  met  as 
yet  upon  this  accursed  stage  of  fools,  you  shall 
crush  my  new-budding  hope  that  there  is  some- 
thing somewhere  which  will  make  me  what  I 
know  that  I ought  to  be,  and  can  be  — if  you 
shall  crush  that,  I say,  by  any  misdoing  of 
yours,  you  had  better  have  been  the  murderer  of 
my  first-born ; with  such  a hate  — a hate  which 
Jews  alone  can  feel  — will  I hate  you  and  yours.” 
“God  help  us  and  strengthen  us!”  said  the  oid 
warrior,  in  a tone  of  noble  humility. 


260 


LIVING  TRUTHS. 


CCXXIT. 

Before  Philammon  could  force  his  way  into  the 
church,  Cyril’s  sermon  had  begun. 

— “What  went  ye  out  for  to  see?  A man  clothed 
in  soft  raiment?  Nay,  such  are  in  king’s  palaces, 
and  in  the  palaces  of  prefects  who  would  needs  be 
emperors,  and  cast  away  the  Lord’s  bonds  from 
them,  — of  whom  it  is  written,  that  he  that  sitteth 
in  the  heavens  laugheth  them  to  scorn,  and  taketh 
the  wicked  in  their  own  snare,  and  maketh  the  de- 
vices of  princes  of  none  effect.  Ay,  in  king’s  pala- 
ces, and  in  theatres  too,  where  the  rich  of  this  world, 
poor  in  faith,  deny  their  covenant,  and  defile  their 
baptismal  robes  that  they  may  do  honor  to  the  de- 
vourers  of  the  earth.  Woe  to  them  who  think  that 
they  may  partake  of  the  cup  of  the  Lord  and  the 
cup  of  devils.  Woe  to  them  who  will  praise  with 
the  same  mouth  Aphrodite  the  fiend,  and  her  of 
whom  it  is  written  that  he  was  born  of  a pure  Vir- 
gin. Let  such  be  excommunicate  from  the  cup  of 
the  Lord,  and  from  the  congregation  of  the  Lord, 
till  they  have  purged  away  their  sins  by  penance 
and  by  almsgiving.  But  for  you,  ye  poor  of  this 
world,  rich  in  faith,  you  whom  the  rich  despise,  hale 
before  the  judgment  seats,  and  blaspheme  that  holy 
name  whereby  ye  are  called  — what  went  ye  out  into 


BELIEF. 


261 


the  wilderness  to  see?  A prophet? — Ay,  and  more 
than  a prophet  — a martyr!  More  than  a prophet, 
more  than  a king,  more  than  a prefect ; whose  thea- 
tre was  the  sands  of  the  desert,  whose  throne  was 
the  cross,  whose  crown  was  bestowed,  not  by  heathen 
philosophers  and  daughters  of  Satan,  deceiving  men 
with  the  works  of  their  fathers,  but  by  angels  and 
archangels ; a crown  of  glory,  the  victor’s  laurel, 
which  grows  forever  in  the  paradise  of  the  highest 
heaven.  Call  him  no  more  Ammonius,  call  him 
Thaumasius,  wonderful ! Wonderful  in  his  poverty, 
wonderful  in  his  zeal,  wonderful  in  his  faith,  won- 
derful in  his  fortitude,  wonderful  in  his  death,  most 
wonderful  in  the  manner  of  that  death.  Oh,  thrice 
blessed,  who  has  merited  the  honor  of  the  cross 
itself ! What  can  follow  but  that  one  so  honored 
in  the  flesh,  should  also  be  honored  in  the  life 
which  he  now  lives,  and  that  from  the  virtue  of 
these  thrice  holy  limbs  the  leper  should  be  cleansed, 
the  dumb  should  speak,  the  very  dead  be  raised  ? 
Yes ; it  were  impiety  to  doubt  it.  Consecrated  by 
the  cross,  this  flesh  shall  not  only  rest  in  hope  but 
work  in  power.  Approach,  and  be  healed  ! Approach, 
and  see  the  glory  of  the  saints,  the  glory  of  the 
poor.  Approach,  and  learn  that  that  which  man 
despises,  God  hath  highly  esteemed;  that  that  which 
man  repels,  God  accepts ; that  that  which  man 
punishes,  God  rewards.  Approach,  and  see  how 


>62 


LIVING  TRUTHS. 


God  hath  chosen  the  foolish  things  of  this  world  to 
confound  the  wise,  and  the  weak  things  of  this 
world  to  confound  the  strong.  Man  abhors  the 
cross : The  Son  of  God  condescended  to  endure 

it ! Man  tramples  on  the  poor.  The  Son  of  God 
hath  not  where  to  lay  his  head.  Man  passes  by 
the  sick  as  useless  : The  Son  of  God  chooses  them 

to  be  partakers  of  his  sufferings,  that  the  glory  of 
God  may  be  made  manifest  in  them.  Man  curses 
the  publican,  while  he  employs  him  to  fill  his  coffers 
with  the  plunder  of  the  poor.  The  Son  of  God 
calls  him  from  the  receipt  of  custom  to  be  an  apostle, 
higher  than  the  kings  of  the  earth.  Man  casts  away 
the  harlot  like  a faded  flower,  when  he  has  tempted 
her  to  become  the  slave  of  sin  for  a season,  and 
the  Son  of  God  calls  her,  the  defiled,  the  despised, 
the  forsaken,  to  himself,  accepts  her  tears,  blesses 
her  offering,  and  declares  that  her  sins  are  forgiven, 
for  she  hath  loved  much  while  to  whom  little  is  for- 
given the  same  loveth  little.”  .... 

Philammon  heard  no  more.  With  the  passionate 
and  impulsive  nature  of  a Greek  fanatic,  he  burst 
forward  through  the  crowd,  towards  the  steps  which 
led  to  the  choir,  and  above  which,  in  front  of  the 
altar,  stood  the  corpse  of  Ammonius,  inclosed  in  a 
coffin  of  glass,  beneath  a gorgeous  canopy ; and 
never  stopping  till  he  found  himself  in  front  of 
Cyril’s  pulpit,  he  threw  himself  upon  his  face  upon 


BELIEF. 


263 


the  pavement,  spread  out  his  arms  in  the  form  of  a 
cross,  and  lay  silent  and  motionless  before  the  feet 
of  the  multitude. 

There  was  a sudden  whisper  and  rustle  in  the  congre- 
gation ; but  Cyril,  after  a moment’s  pause,  went  on  — 

“ Man,  in  his  pride  and  self-sufficiency,  despises 
humiliation,  and  penance,  and  the  broken  and  the 
contrite  heart ; and  tells  thee  that  only  so  long  as 
thou  doest  well  unto  thyself  will  he  speak  well 
of  thee : the  Son  of  God  says  that  he  that  hum- 
bleth  himself,  even  as  this  our  penitent  brother, 
he  it  is  who  shall  be  exalted.  He  it  is  of  whom 
it  is  written  that  his  father  saw  him  afar  off,  and 
ran  to  meet  him,  and  bade  put  the  best  robe  on 
him,  and  a ring  on  his  hand,  and  shoes  on  his 
feet,  and  make  merry  and  be  glad  with  the  choir 
of  angels  who  rejoice  over  one  sinner  that  repent- 
eth.  Arise,  my  son,  whosoever  thou  art ; and  go 
in  peace  for  this  night,  remembering  that  he  who 
said  4 My  belly  cleaveth  unto  the  pavement,’  hath 
also  said,  4 Rejoice  not  against  me,  Satan,  mine 
enemy,  for  when  I fall  I shall  arise  ! ” 

A thunderclap  of  applause,  surely  as  pardonable 
as  any  an  Alexandiian  church  ever  heard,  followed 
this  dexterous,  and  yet  most  righteous,  turn  of  the 
patriarch’s  oratory ; but  Philammon  raised  himself 
slowly  and  fearfully  to  his  knees,  and  blushing 
scarlet,  endured  the  gaze  of  ten  thousand  eyes. 


264 


LIVING  TRUTHS. 


Suddenly,  from  beside  the  pulpit,  an  old  man 
sprang  forward,  and  clasped  him  round  the  neck. 
It  was  Arsen ius. 

“ My  son  ! my  son  ! ” sobbed  he,  almost  aloud. 
“ Slave,  as  well  as  son,  if  you  will  ! ” whispered 
Philammon.  “ One  boon  from  the  patriarch ; and 
then  home  to  the  Laura  forever ! ” 

“Oh,  twice-blessed  night,”  rolled  on  above  the 
deep  rich  voice  of  Cyril,  “ which  beholds  at  once 
the  coronation  of  a martyr,  and  the  conversion  of 
a sinner ; which  increases  at  the  same  time  the 
ranks  of  the  Church  triumphant  and  of  the  Church 
militant ; and  pierces  celestial  essences  with  a two- 
fold rapture  of  thanksgiving,  as  they  welcome  on  high 
a victorious,  and  on  earth  a repentant,  brother ! ” 
And  at  a sign  from  Cyril,  Peter  the  Reader, 
stepped  forward,  and  led  away,  gently  enough,  the 
two  weepers,  who  were  welcomed  as  they  passed 
by  the  blessings,  and  prayers,  and  tears  even  of 
those  fierce  fanatics  of  Nitria.  Nay,  Peter  himself, 
as  he  turned  to  leave  them  together  in  the  sac- 
risty, held  out  his  hand  to  Philammon. 

“ 1 ask  your  forgiveness,”  said  the  poor  boy 
who  plunged  eagerly  and  with  a sort  of  delight 
into  any  and  every  self  abasement. 

“And  I accord  it,”  quoth  Peter;  and  returned 
to  the  church,  looking,  and  probably  feeling,  in  a 
far  more  pleasant  mood  than  usual. 


BELIEF, 


265 


CCXXIII. 

Hypatia  was  a Greek,  and  a woman  — and  for 
that  matter,  so  were  the  men  of  her  school.  To 
her  the  relations  and  duties  of  common  humanity 
shone  with  none  of  the  awful  and  divine  meaning 
which  they  did  in  the  eyes  of  the  converted  Jew, 
awakened  for  the  first  time  in  his  life  to  know  the 
meaning  of  his  own  Scriptures,  and  become  an 
Israelite  indeed.  And  Raphael’s  dialectic,  too, 
though  it  might  silence  her,  could  not  convince 
her.  Her  creed,  like  those  of  her  fellow-philosophers, 
was  one  of  the  fancy  and  the  religious  sentiment, 
rather  than  of  the  reason  and  the  moral  sense. 
All  the  brilliant  cloud-world  in  which  she  had  rev- 
elled for  years, — cosmogonies,  emanations,  affinities, 
symbolisms,  hierarchies,  abysses,  eternities,  and  the 
rest  of  it  — though  she  could  not  rest  in  them, 
not  even  believe  in  them  — though  they  had  van- 
ished into  thin  air  at  her  most  utter  need  — yet 
they  were  too  pretty  to  be  lost  sight  of  forever ; 
and,  struggling  against  the  growing  conviction  of 
her  reason,  she  answered  at  last, — 

“ And  you  would  have  me  give  up,  as  you  seem 
to  have  done,  the  sublime,  the  beautiful,  the  heavenly, 
for  a dry  and  barren  chain  of  dialectic  — in  which, 
for  aught  I know  — for  after  all,  Raphael,  I cannot 
cope  with  you  — I am  a woman  — a weak  woman  ! ” 


266 


LIVING  TRUTHS . 


And  she  covered  her  face  with  her  hands. 

“ For  aught  you  know,  what  ? ” asked  Raphael 
gently. 

“You  may  have  made  the  worse  appear  the  bet- 
ter reason.  ” 

So  said  Aristophanes  of  Socrates.  But  hear  me 
once  more,  beloved  Hypatia.  You  refuse  to  give 
up  the  beautiful,  the  sublime,  the  heavenly?  What 
if  Raphael  Aben-Ezra,  at  least,  had  never  found 
them  till  now?  Recollect  what  I said  just  now  — 
what  if  our  old  Beautiful,  and  Sublime,  and  Heavenly 
had  been  the  sheerest  materialism,  notions  spun  by 
our  own  brains  out  of  the  impressions  of  pleasant 
things,  and  high  things,  and  low  things,  and  awful 
things,  which  we  had  seen  with  our  bodily  eyes  ? 
what  if  I had  discovered  that  the  spiritual  is  not 
the  intellectual,  but  the  moral ; and  that  the  spir- 
itual world  is  not,  as  we  used  to  make  it,  a world 
of  our  own  intellectual  abstractions,  or  of  our 
own  physical  emotions,  religious  or  other,  but  a 
world  of  righteous  or  unrighteous  persons  ? What  if 
I had  discovered  that  one  law  of  the  spiritual 
world,  in  which  others  were  contained,  was  right- 
eousness ; and  that  disharmony  with  that  law, 
which  we  called  unspirituality,  was  not  being  vulgar 
or  clumsy,  or  ill-taught,  or  unimaginative,  or  dull, 
but  simply  being  unrighteous  ? What  if  I had  dis- 
covered that  righteousness,  and  it  alone  was  the 


BELIEF, 


267 


beautiful,  righteousness  the  sublime,  the  heavenly, 
the  God-like — ay,  Gocl  himself?  And,  what  if  it 
had  dawned  on  me,  as  by  a great  sunrise,  what 
that  righteousness  was  like  ? What  if  I had  seen  a 
human  being,  a woman,  too,  a young  weak  girl, 
showing  forth  the  glory  and  the  beauty  of  God  ? 
Showing  me  that  the  beautiful  was  to  mingle  un- 
shrinking, for  duty’s  sake,  with  all  that  is  most  foul 
and  loathsome ; that  the  sublime  was  to  stoop  to 
the  most  menial  offices,  the  most  outwardly-degrad- 
ing self-denials  ; that  to  be  heavenly,  was  to  know 
that  the  commonest  relations,  the  most  vulgar  duties 
of  earth,  were  God’s  commands,  and  only  to  be 
performed  aright  by  the  help  of  the  same  spirit  by 
which  he  rules  the  Universe ; that  righteousness 
was  to  love,  to  help  to  suffer  for  — if  need  be,  to 
die  for  — those  who,  in  themselves,  seem  fitted  to 
arouse  no  feelings  except  indignation  and  disgust  ? 
What  if,  for  the  first  time,  I trust  not  for  the  last 
time,  in  my  life,  I saw  this  vision ; and  at  the 
sight  of  it  my  eyes  were  opened,  and  I knew  it 
for  the  likeness  and  the  glory  of  God  ? What  if 
I,  a Platonist,  like  John  of  Galilee,  and  Paul  of 
Tarsus,  yet,  like  them,  a Hebrew  of  the  Hebrews, 
had  confessed  to  myself  — If  the  creature  can  love 
thus,  how  much  more  its  archetype  ? If  weak 
woman  can  endure  thus,  how  much  more  a Son  of 
God  ? If,  for  the  good  of  others,  man  has  strength 


268 


LIVING  TRUTHS. 


to  sacrifice  himself  in  part,  God  will  have  strength 
to  sacrifice  himself  utterly.  If  he  has  not  done  it, 
he  will  do  it ; or  he  will  be  less  beautiful,  less 
sublime,  less  heavenly,  less  righteous  than  my  poor 
conception  of  him,  ay,  than  this  weak,  playful 
girl ! Why  should  I not  believe  those  who  tell  me 
that  he  has  done  it  already  ? What  if  their  evi- 
dence be,  after  all,  only  probability  ? I do  not 
want  mathematical  demonstration  to  prove  to  me 
that  when  a child  was  in  danger  its  father  saved 
him  — neither  do  I here.  My  reason,  my  heart, 
every  faculty  of  me,  except  this  stupid,  sensuous 
experience,  which  I find  deceiving  you  every  mo- 
ment, which  cannot  even  prove  to  me  my  own  ex- 
istence, accepts  that  story  of  Calvary  as  the  most 
natural,  most  probable,  most  necessary  of  earthly 
events,  assuming  only  that  God  is  a righteous 
Person,  and  not  some  dream  of  an  all-pervading 
necessary  spirit  — nonsense  which  in  its  very  terms, 
confesses  its  own  materialism. 

CCXXIV. 

We  must,  in  the  great  majority  of  cases,  have 
the  corpus  sanem  if  we  want  the  mentem  sanem ; 
and  healthy  bodies  are  the  only  trustworthy  organs 
for  healthy  minds.  Which  is  cause,  and  which  is 
effect,  I shall  not  stay  to  debate  here.  But  wher- 


HEALTH. 


269 


ever  we  find  a population  generally  weakly,  stunted, 
scrofulous,  we  find  in  them  a corresponding  type 
of  brain,  which  cannot  be  trusted  to  do  good 
work ; which  is  capable  more  or  less  of  madness, 
whether  solitary  or  epidemic.  It  may  be  very  active. 
It  may  be  very  quick  at  catching  at  new  and 
grand  ideas — all  the  more  quick,  perhaps,  on  ac- 
count of  its  own  secret  malaise  and  self-discontent ; 
but  it  will  be  irritable,  spasmodic,  hysterical.  It 
will  be  apt  to  mistake  capacity  of  talk  for  capacity 
of  action,  excitement  for  earnestness,  virulence  for 
force,  and,  too  often,  cruelty  for  justice.  It  will 
lose  manful  independence,  individuality,  originality; 
and  when  men  act,  they  will  act  from  the  conscious- 
ness of  personal  weakness,  like  sheep  rushing  over 
a hedge,  leaning  against  each  other,  exhorting  each 
other  to  be  brave,  and  swaying  about  in  mobs  and 
masses.  These  were  the  intellectual  weaknesses 
which,  as  I read  history,  followed  on  physical  deg- 
radation in  Imperial  Rome,  in  Alexandria,  in  By- 
zantium. 


ccxxv. 

Why  should  not  people  be  taught  something  about 
the  tissues  of  the  body,  their  structure  and  uses, 
the  circulation  of  the  blood,  respiration,  chemical 
changes  in  the  air  respired,  amount  breathed,  diges- 


2JO 


LIVING  TRUTHS. 


tion,  nature  of  food,  absorption,  secretion,  structure 
of  the  nervous  system  — in  fact,  be  taught  some- 
thing of  how  their  own  bodies  are  made  and  how 
they  work.  Teaching  of  this  kind  ought  to,  and 
will,  in  some  more  civilized  age  and  country,  be 
held  as  necessary  as  reading,  writing,  and  arith- 
metic ; for  it  is  after  all  the  most  necessary  branch 
of  that  “technical  education”  of  which  we  hear 
so  much  just  now,  namely,  the  technic,  or  art,  of 
keeping  one’s  self  alive  and  well. 

CCXXVE 

Without  well-filled  lungs,  robust  health  is  impos- 
sible. And  if  any  one  shall  answer,  “We  do  not 

want  robust  health  so  much  as  intellectual  attain- 
ment. The  mortal  body,  being  the  lower  organ, 

must  take  its  chance,  and  be  even  sacrificed,  if 
need  be,  to  the  higher  organ — the  immortal  mind.” 
To  such  I reply,  you  cannot  do  it.  The  laws  of 
nature,  which  are  the  express  will  of  God,  laugh 
such  attempts  to  scorn.  Every  organ  of  the  body 
is  formed  out  of  the  blood ; and  if  the  blood  be 
vitiated,  every  organ  suffers  in  proportion  to  its 
delicacy.  And  the  brain,  being  the  most  delicate 
and  highly  specialized  of  all  organs,  suffers  most 
of  all  and  soonest  of  all,  as  every  one  knows 

who  has  tried  to  work  his  brain  when  his  diges- 


HEALTH. 


27 1 

tion  was  the  least  out  of  order.  Nay,  the  very 
morals  will  suffer.  From  ill-filled  lungs,  which  sig- 
nify ill-repaired  blood,  arise  year  by  year,  an  amount 
not  merely  of  disease,  but  of  folly,  temper,  laziness, 
intemperance,  madness,  and,  let  me  tell  you  fairly, 
crime  — the  sum  of  which  will  never  be  known  till 
that  great  day  when  men  shall  be  called  to  account 
for  all  deeds  done  in  the  body,  whether  they  be 
good  or  evil. 


CCXXVII. 

As  in  that  which  is  above  nature,  so  in  nature 
itself.  He  that  breaks  one  physical  law  is  guilty  of 
all.  The  whole  universe,  as  it  were,  takes  up  arms 
against  him ; and  all  nature,  with  her  numberless 
and  unseen  powers,  is  ready  to  avenge  herself  on 
him,  and  on  his  children  after  him,  he  knows  not 
when  or  where.  He,  on  the  other  hand,  who  obeys 
the  laws  of  nature  with  his  whole  heart  and  mind, 
will  find  all  things  working  together  to  him  for 
good.  He  is  at  peace  with  the  physical  universe. 
He  is  helped  and  befriended  alike  by  the  sun 
above  his  head,  and  the  dust  beneath  his  feet, 
because  he  is  obeying  the  will  and  mind  of  him 
who  made  sun,  and  dust,  and  all  things,  and 
who  has  given  them  a law  which  cannot  be 
broken. 


LIVING  TRUTHS. 


272 


CCXXVIII. 


Ah,  the  waste  of  health  and  strength  in  the 
young ; the  waste,  too,  of  anxiety  and  misery  in 
those  who  love  and  tend  them.  How  much  of  it 
might  be  saved  by  a little  rational  education  in 
those  laws  of  nature  which  are  the  will  of  God 
about  the  welfare  of  our  bodies,  and  which,  there- 
fore, we  are  as  much  bound  to  know  and  to  obey, 
as  we  are  bound  to  know  and  obey  the  spiritual 
laws  whereon  depends  the  welfare  of  our  souls. 

CCXXIX. 

Andrew  Combe  tells  a story  of  a large  charity 
school,  in  which  the  young  girls  were,  for  the  sake 
of  their  health,  shut  up  in  the  hall  and  school- 
room during  play-hours,  from  November  till  March, 
and  no  romping  or  noise  allowed.  The  natural 
consequences  were,  the  great  majority  of  them  fell 
ill ; and  I am  afraid  that  a great  deal  of  illness  has 
been  from  time  to  time  contracted  in  certain  school- 
rooms, simply  through  this  one  cause  of  enforced 
silence.  Some  cause  or  other  there  must  be  for  the 
amount  of  ill-health  and  weakliness  which  prevails 
especially  among  girls  of  the  middle  classes  in 
towns,  who  have  not,  poor  things,  the  opportuni- 
ties which  richer  girls  have,  of  keeping  themselves 


HEALTH. 


27  3 


in  strong  health  by  riding,  skating,  archery  — that 
last  quite  an  admirable  exercise  for  the  chest  and 
lungs,  and  far  preferable  to  croquet,  which  involves 
too  much  unwholesome  stooping.  Even  playing  at 
ball,  if  milliners  and  shop-girls  had  room  to  indulge 
in  a game  after  their  sedentary  work,  might  bring 
fresh  spirits  to  many  a heart,  and  fresh  color  to 
many  a cheek. 


ccxxx. 

If  the  craving  for  stimulants  and  narcotics  is  a 
token  of  deficient  vitality,  then  the  deadliest  foe 
of  that  craving,  and  all  its  miserable  results,  is  surely 
the  Sanitary  Reformer ; the  man  who  preaches,  and 
— as  far  as  ignorance  and  vested  interests  will 
allow  him  — procures  for  the  masses,  pure  air,  pure 
sunlight,  pure  water,  pure  dwelling-houses,  pure  food. 
Not  merely  every  fresh  drinking-fountain,  but  every 
fresh  public  bath  and  wash-house,  every  fresh  open 
space,  every  fresh  growing  tree,  every  fresh  open 
window  — each  of  these  is  so  much  as  the  old  Per- 
sians would  have  said,  conquered  for  Ormuzd,  the 
god  of  light  and  life,  out  of  the  dominion  of  Ahriman, 
the  king  of  darkness  and  of  death ; so  much 
taken  from  the  causes  of  drunkenness  and  dis- 
ease, and  added  to  the  causes  of  sobriety  and 
health. 


274 


LIVING  TRUTHS. 


CCXXXI. 

It  is  proposed,  just  now,  to  assimilate  the  edu- 
cation of  girls  more  and  more  to  that  of  boys. 
If  that  means  that  girls  are  merely  to  learn  more 
lessons,  and  to  study  what  their  brothers  are  taught 
in  addition  to  what  their  mothers  were  taught,  then 
it  is  to  be  hoped,  at  least  by  physiologists  and 
patriots,  that  the  scheme  will  sink  into  that  limbo 
whither,  in  a free  and  tolerably  rational  country,  all 
imperfect  and  ill-considered  schemes  are  sure  to 
gravitate.  But  if  the  proposal  be  a bona  fide  one, 
then  it  must  be  borne  in  mind  that  in  the  public 
schools  of  England,  and  in  all  private  schools,  I 
presume,  which  take  their  tone  from  them,  cricket 
and  football  are  more  or  less  compulsory,  being 
considered  integral  parts  of  an  Englishman’s  educa- 
tion; and  that  they  are  likely  to  remain  so,  in  spite 
of  reclamations  : because  masters  and  boys  alike 

know  that  games  do  not,  in  the  long  run,  interfere 
with  a boy’s  work;  that  the  same  boy  will  very 
often  excel  in  both ; that  the  games  keep  him  in 
health  for  his  work ; that  the  spirit  with  which  he 
takes  to  his  games  when  in  the  lower  school  is  a 
fair  test  of  the  spirit  with  which  he  will  take  to 
his  work  when  he  rises  into  the  higher  school ; 
and  that  nothing  is  worse  for  a boy  than  to  fall 
into  a loafing,  tuck-shop-haunting  set,  who  neither 


HEALTH. 


275 


play  hard  nor  work  hard,  and  are  usually  extrava- 
gant and  often  vicious.  Moreover,  they  know  well 
that  games  conduce,  not  merely  to  physical,  but  to 
moral  health ; that  in  the  playing-field  boys  ac- 
quire virtues  which  no  books  can  give  them ; not 
merely  daring  and  endurance,  but,  better  still,  tem- 
per, self-restraint,  fairness,  honor,  unenvious  appro- 
bation of  another’s  success,  and  all  that  “give  and 
take  ” of  life  which  stand  a man  in  such  good 
stead  when  he  goes  forth  into  the  world,  and  with- 
out which,  indeed,  his  success  is  always  maimed 
and  partial. 

Now,  if  the  promoters  of  higher  education  for 
women  will  compel  girls  to  any  training  analogous 
to  our  public  school  games ; if,  for  instance,  they 
will  insist  on  singing,  to  expand  the  lungs  and 
regulate  the  bre-ath;  and  on  some  games  — ball  or 
what  not  — which  will  ensure  that  raised  chest,  and 
upright  carriage,  and  general  strength  of  the  upper 
torso,  without  which  full  oxygenation  of  the  blood, 
and  therefore,  general  health  is  impossible ; if  they 
will  sternly  forbid  tight  stays,  high  heels,  and  all 
which  interferes  with  free  growth  and  free  motion ; 
if  they  will  consider  carefully  all  which  has  been 
written  on  the  “half  time  system”  by  Mr.  Chad- 
wick and  others  ; and  accept  the  certain  physical 
law  that  in  order  to  renovate  the  brain  day  by 
day,  the  growing  creature  must  have  plenty  of 


276 


LIVING  TRUTHS. 


fresh  air  and  play,  and  that  the  child  who  learns 
for  four  hours  and  plays  for  four  hours,  will  learn 
more,  and  learn  it  more  easily,  than  the  child  who 
learns  for  the  whole  eight  hours ; if,  in  short,  they 
will  teach  girls  not  merely  to  understand  the  Greek 
tongue,  but  to  copy  somewhat  of  the  Greek  physi- 
cal training,  of  that  “ music  and  gymnastic  ” which 
helped  to  make  the  cleverest  race  of  the  old  woild 
the  ablest  race  likewise ; then  they  will  earn  the  grati- 
tude of  the  patriot  and  the  physiologist,  by  doing  their 
best  to  stay  the  downward  tendencies  of  the  physique, 
and  therefore  ultimately  of  the  morale  in  the  coming 
generation  of  English  women. 

CCXXXII. 

We  all  live  too  fast,  and  work  too  hard.  “ All 
things  are  full  of  labor,  man  cannot  utter  it.” 
In  the  heavy  struggle  for  existence  which  goes  on 
all  around  us,  each  man  is  tasked  more  and  more  — 
if  he  be  really  worth  buying  and  using  — to  the 
utmost  of  his  powers  all  day  long.  The  weak 
have  to  compete  on  equal  terms  with  the  strong ; 
and  crave  in  consequence,  for  artificial  strength. 
How  we  shall  stop  that  I know  not,  while  every 
man  is  “ making  haste  to  be  rich,  and  piercing 
himself  through  with  many  sorrows,  and  falling  into 
foolish  and  hurtful  lusts,  which  drown  men  in  de- 


HEALTH. 


277 


struction  and  perdition.”  How  we  shall  stop  that, 
I say,  I know  not.  The  old  prophet  may  have 
been  right  when  he  said,  “ Surely  it  is  not  of  the 
Lord  that  the  people  shall  labor  in  the  very  fire, 
and  weary  themselves  for  very  vanity ; ” and  in 
some  juster,  wiser,  more  sober  system  of  society  — 
somewhat  more  like  the  Kingdom  of  the  Father 
come  on  earth  — it  may  be  that  poor  human  beings 
will  not  need  to  toil  so  hard,  and  to  keep  them- 
selves up  to  their  work  by  stimulants,  but  will 
have  time  to  sit  down,  and  look  around  them,  and 
think  of  God,  and  of  God’s  quiet  universe,  with 
something  of  quiet  in  themselves ; something  of 
rational  leisure,  and  of  manful  sobriety  of  mind, 
as  well  as  of  body. 


CCXXXIII. 

What  we  all  want  is  inward  rest;  rest  of  heart 
and  brain ; the  calm,  strong,  self-contained,  self- 
denying  character,  which  needs  no  stimulants,  for  it 
has  no  fits  of  depression ; which  needs  no  nar- 
cotics, for  it  has  no  fits  of  excitement j which  needs 
no  ascetic  restraints,  for  it  is  strong  enough  to  use 
God’s  gifts  without  abusing  them ; the  character,  in 
a word,  which  is  truly  temperate,  not  in  drink  or 
food  merely,  but  in  all  desires,  thoughts,  and  actions; 
freed  from  the  wild  lusts  and  ambitions  to  which 


LIVING  TRUTHS. 


278 

that  old  Adam  yielded,  and,  seeking  for  light  and 
life  by  means  forbidden,  found  thereby  disease  and 
death.  Yes;  I know  that.  And  yet,  in  such  a 
world  as  this,  governed  by  a Being  who  has  made 
sunshine  and  flowers,  and  green  grass,  and  the  song 
of  birds,  and  happy  human  smiles;  and  who  would 
educate  by  them  — if  we  would  let  him  — his 
human  children  from  the  cradle  to  the  grave ; in 
such  a world  as  this,  will  you  grudge  any  particle 
of  that  education,  even  any  harmless  substitute  for 
it,  to  those  spirits  in  prison,  whose  surroundings 
too  often  tempt  them,  from  the  cradle  to  the  grave, 
to  fancy  that  the  world  is  composed  of  bricks  and 
iron,  and  governed  by  inspectors  and  policemen? 
Preach  to  those  spirits  in  prison,  but  let  them  have 
besides  some  glimpses  of  the  splendid  fact,  that 
outside  their  prison-house  is  a world  which  God, 
not  man,  has  made,  wherein  grows  everywhere  that 
tree  of  knowledge  which  is  likewise  the  tree  of 
life;  and  that  they  have  a right  to  some  small 
share  of  its  beauty,  and  its  wonder,  and  its  rest, 
for  their  own  health  of  soul  and  body,  and  for  the 
health  of  their  children  after  them. 

CCXXXIV. 

Can  truth  and  fact  harm  any  human  being?  I 
shall  not  believe  so,  as  long  as  I have  a Bible 


HEALTH. 


279 


wherein  to  believe.  For  my  part,  I should  like  to 
make  every  man,  woman,  and  child  whom  I meet 
discontented  with  themselves,  even  as  I am  discon- 
tented with  myself.  I should  like  to  awaken  in 
them,  about  their  physical,  their  intellectual,  their 
moral  condition,  that  divine  discontent  which  is 
parent,  first  of  upward  aspiration  and  then  of  self- 
control,  thought,  effort  to  fulfil  that  aspiration  even 
in  part.  For  to  be  discontented  with  the  divine 
discontent,  and  to  be  ashamed  with  the  noble 
shame,  is  the  very  germ  and  first  upgrowth  of  all 
virtue.  Men  begin  at  first,  as  boys  begin  when 
they  grumble  at  their  school  and  their  school-mas- 
ters, to  lay  the  blame  on  others;  to  be  discontented 
with  their  circumstances  — the  things  which  stand 
around  them  ; and  to  cry,  “ Oh  that  I had  this  ! ” 
“ Oh  that  I had  that  ! ” But  that  way  no  deliver- 
ance lies.  That  discontent  only  ends  in  revolt  and 
rebellion,  social  or  political ; and  that  again,  still  in 
the  same  worship  of  circumstances  — but  this  time 
desperate  — which  ends,  let  it  disguise  itself  under 
what  fine  names  it  will,  in  what  the  old  Greeks 
called  a tyranny ; in  which  — as  in  the  Spanish 
republics  of  America,  and  in  France  more  than 
once  — all  have  become  the  voluntary  slaves  of  one 
man,  because  each  man  fancies  that  the  one  man 
can  improve  his  circumstances  for  him. 

But  the  wise  man  will  learn,  like  Epictetus  the 


28o 


LIVING  TRUTHS. 


heroic  slave,  the  slave  of  Epaphroditus,  Nero’s 
minion  — and  in  what  baser  and  uglier  circumstances 
could  human  being  find  himself  ? — to  find  out  the 
secret  of  being  truly  free ; namely,  to  be  discon- 
tented with  no  man  and  thing  save  himself.  To 
say  not  — “Oh  that  I had  this  and  that!"  but  “ Oh 
that  I were  this  and  that ! ” Then,  by  God’s  help 
■ — and  that  heroic  slave,  heathen  though  he  was, 
believed  and  trusted  in  God’s  help  — “I  will  make 
myself  that  which  God  has  shown  me  that  I ought 
to  be  and  can  be.” 


ccxxxv. 

If  a man  comes  up  to  Nature,  as  to  a parrot 
or  a monkey,  with  this  prevailing  thought  in  his 
head — Will  it  bite  me? — will  he  not  be  pretty 
certain  to  make  up  his  mind  that  it  may  bite  him, 
and  had  therefore  best  be  left  alone  ? 

It  is  only  the  man  of  courage— few  and  far 
between  — who  will  stand  the  chance  of  a first  bite, 
in  the  hope  of  teaching  the  parrot  to  talk,  or  the 
monkey  to  fire  off  a gun.  And  it  is  only  the  man 
of  courage  — few  and  far  between  — who  will  stand 
the  chance  of  a first  bite  from  Nature,  which  may 
kill  him  for  aught  he  knows  — for  her  teeth,  though 
clumsy,  are  very  strong  — in  order  that  he  may  tame 
her,  and  break  her  into  his  use  by  the  very  same 


SCIENCE . 


281 


method  by  which  that  admirable,  inductive  philos- 
opher, Mr.  Rarey,  used  to  break  his  horses ; first, 
by  not  being  afraid  of  them ; and  next,  by  trying 
to  find  out  what  they  were  thinking  of.  But  after 
all,  as  with  animals,  so  with  Nature;  cowardice  is 
dangerous.  The  surest  method  of  getting  bitten 
by  an  animal  is  to  be  afraid  of  it ; and  the 
surest  method  of  being  injured  by  Nature  is  to  be 
afraid  of  it.  Only  as  far  as  we  understand  Nature 
are  we  safe  from  it ; and  those  who  in  any  age 
counsel  mankind  not  to  pry  into  the  secrets  of  the 
universe,  counsel  them  not  to  provide  for  their 
own  life  and  well-being,  or  for  their  children  after 
them. 

But  how  few  there  have  been  in  any  age  who 
have  not  been  afraid  of  Nature.  How  few  have 
set  themselves,  like  Rarey,  to  tame  her  by  finding 
out  what  she  is  thinking  of.  The  mass  are  glad 
to  have  the  results  of  science,  as  they  are  to  buy 
Mr.  Rarey’s  horses  after  they  are  tamed ; but  for 
want  of  courage  or  of  wit,  they  had  rather  leave 
the  taming  process  to  some  one  else.  And,  there- 
fore, we  may  say  that  what  knowledge  of  Nature 
we  have  — and  we  have  very  little  — we  owe  to  the 
courage  of  those  men  — and  they  have  been  very 
few  — who  have  been  inspired  to  face  Nature 
boldly;  and  say — or,  what  is  better,  act  as  if  they 
were  saying,  “I  find  something  in  me  which  I do 


282 


LIVING  TRUTHS. 


not  find  in  you ; which  gives  me  the  hope  that  I 
can  grow  to  understand  you,  though  you  may  not 
understand  me;  that  I may  become  your  master, 
and  not  as  now,  you  mine.  And  if  not,  I will 
know ; or  die  in  the  search. ” 

It  is  to  those  men,  the  few  and  far  between,  in 
a very  few  ages,  and  very  few  countries,  who 
have  thus  risen  in  rebellion  against  Nature,  and 
look  it  in  the  face  with  an  unquailing  glance,  that 
we  owe  what  we  call  Physical  Science. 

CCXXXVI. 

The  founders  of  inductive,  physical  science  were 
not  the  Jews ; but  first  the  Chaldeans,  next  the 
Greeks,  next  their  pupils,  the  Romans  — or  rather 
a few  sages  among  each  race.  But  what  success 
had  they  ? The  Chaldean  astronomers  made  a few 
discoveries  concerning  the  motions  of  heavenly  bodies, 
which,  rudimentary  as  they  were,  still  prove  them 
to  have  been  men  of  rare  intellect.  For  a great 
and  patient  genius  must  he  have  been  who  first 
distinguished  the  planets  from  the  fixed  stars,  or 
worked  out  the  earliest  astronomical  calculation. 
But  they  seem  to  have  been  crushed,  as  it  were, 
by  their  own  discoveries.  They  stopped  short. 
They  gave  way  again  to  the  primeval  fear  of 
Nature.  They  sank  into  planet  worship.  They  in- 


SCIENCE. 


283 


vented,  it  would  seem,  that  fantastic  pseudo-science 
of  astrology,  which  lay  for  ages  after  as  an  incu- 
bus on  the  human  intellect  and  conscience.  They 
became  the  magicians  and  quacks  of  the  old  world; 
and  mankind  owed  them  thenceforth  nothing  but 
evil. 

Among  the  Greeks  and  Romans,  again,  those 
sages  who  dared  face  nature  like  reasonable  men, 
were  accused  by  the  superstitious  mob  as  irrever- 
ent, impious  atheists.  The  wisest  of  them  all, 

Socrates,  was  actually  put  to  death  on  that  charge  ; 
and  finally  they  failed.  School  after  school  in 
Greece  and  Rome,  struggled  to  discover  and  to 
get  a hearing  for  some  theory  of  the  universe 
which  was  founded  on  something  like  experience, 
reason,  common-sense.  They  were  not  allowed  to 
prosecute  their  attempt.  The  mud-ocean  of  igno- 

rance and  fear  in  which  they  struggled  so  manfully, 
was  too  strong  for  them ; the  mud-waves  closed 
over  their  heads  finally,  as  the  age  of  the  Anto- 
nines  expired,  and  the  last  effort  of  Graeco-Roman 
thought  to  explain  the  universe  was  Neoplatonism  — - 
the  muddiest  of  the  muddy  — an  attempt  to  apolo- 
gise for,  and  organize  into  a system,  all  the 
nature-dreading  superstitions  of  the  Roman  world. 
Porphyry,  Plotinus,  Proclus,  poor  Hypatia  herself, 
and  all  her  school  — they  may  have  had  themselves 
no  bodily  fear  of  Nature ; for  they  were  noble 


284 


LIVING  TRUTHS. 


souls.  Yet  they  spent  their  time  in  justifying  those 
who  had ; in  apologizing  for  the  superstitions  of 
the  very  mob  which  they  despised;  just  as — it 
sometimes  seems  to  me  — some  folks  in  these 
days  are  like  to  end  in  doing;  begging  that  the 
masses  might  be  allowed  to  believe  in  any  thing, 
however  false,  lest  they  should  believe  in  nothing 
at  all  : as  if  believing  in  lies  could  do  any  thing 
but  harm  to  any  human  being.  And  so  died  the 
science  of  the  old  world,  in  a true  second  child- 
hood, just  where  it  began. 

The  Jewish  sages,  I hold,  taught  that  science 
was  probable ; the  Greeks  and  Romans  proved  that 
it  was  possible.  It  remained  for  our  race,  under 
the  teaching  of  both,  to  bring  science  into  act 
and  fact. 


CCXXXVII. 

The  word  science  defines  itself.  It  means  simply 
knowledge ; that  is,  of  course,  right  knowledge,  or 
such  an  approximation  as  can  be  obtained ; knowl- 
edge of  any  natural  object,  its  classification,  its 
causes,  its  effects ; or,  in  plain  English,  what  it  is, 
how  it  came  where  it  is,  and  what  can  be  done 
with  it. 

And  scientific  method,  likewise,  needs  no  defini- 
tion ; for  it  is  simply  the  exercise  of  common-sense. 


SCIENCE . 


285 


It  is  not  a peculiar,  unique,  professional,  or  myste- 
rious process  of  the  understanding;  but  the  same 
which  all  men  employ,  from  the  cradle  to  the 
grave,  in  forming  correct  conclusions. 

Every  one  who  knows  the  philosophic  writings 
of  Mr.  John  Stuart  Mill,  will  be  familiar  with  this 
opinion.  But  to  those  who  have  no  leisure  to 
study  him,  I should  recommend  the  reading  of 
Professor  Huxley’s  third  lecture  on  the  origin  of 

species. 

In  that  he  shows,  with  great  logical  skill,  as 

well  as  with  some  humor,  how  the  man  who,  on 

rising  in  the  morning  finds  his  parlor  window  open, 
the  spoons  and  teapot  gone,  the  mark  of  a dirty 
hand  on  the  window-sill,  and  that  of  a hob-nailed 
boot  outside,  and  comes  to  the  conclusion  that 
some  one  has  broken  open  the  wdndow  and  stolen 
the  plate,  arrives  at  that  hypothesis  — for  it  is 

nothing  more  — by  a long  and  complex  train  of 
inductions  and  deductions,  of  just  the  same  kind  as 
those  which,  according  to  the  Baconian  philosophy, 
are  to  be  used  for  investigating  the  deepest  secrets 
of  Nature. 


CCXXXVIII. 


From  blind  fear  of  the  unknown,  science  does 
certainly  deliver  man.  She  does  by  man  as  he 


286 


LIVING  TRUTHS. 


does  by  an  unbroken  colt.  The  colt  sees  by  the 
roadside  some  quite  new  object  — a cast-away  boot, 
an  old  kettle,  or  what-not.  What  a fearful  mon- 
ster! What  unknown,  terrific  powers  may  it  not 
possess ! And  the  colt  shies  across  the  road,  runs 
up  the  bank,  rears  on  end,  putting  itself  thereby, 
as  many  a man  does,  in  real  danger.  What  cure 
is  there  ? But  one,  experience.  So  science  takes 
us,  as  we  should  take  the  colt,  gently  by  the  hal- 
ter, and  makes  us  simply  smell  at  the  new  monster, 
till  after  a few  trembling  sniffs,  we  discover  like  the 
colt,  that  it  is  not  a monster,  but  a kettle.  Yet 
I think  if  we  sum  up  the  loss  and  gain  we  shall 
find  the  colt’s  character  has  gained  rather  than  lost 
by  being  thus  disabused.  He  learns  to  substitute 
a very  rational  reverence  for  the  man  who  is  break- 
ing him  in,  for  a totally  irrational  reverence  for  the 
kettle ; and  becomes  thereby  a much  wiser  and 
more  useful  member  of  society,  as  does  the  man 
when  disabused  of  his  superstitions. 

CCXXXIX. 

If  science  proposes  — as  she  does — to  make  men 
brave,  wise,  and  independent,  she  must  needs  excite 
unpleasant  feelings  in  all  who  desire  to  keep  men 
cowardly,  ignorant,  and  slavish.  And  that  too  many 
such  persons  have  existed  in  all  ages  is  but  too 


SCIENCE . 


2S7 


notorious.  There  have  been  from  all  time,  goetai, 
quacks,  pow-wow  men,  rain-makers,  and  necromanc- 
ers of  various  sorts,  who  having  for  their  own  pur- 
poses set  forth  partial,  ill-grounded,  fantastic,  and 
frightful  interpretations  of  nature,  have  no  love  for 
those  who  search  after  a true,  exact,  brave,  and 
hopeful  one.  And  therefore  it  is  to  be  feared, 
or  hoped,  science  and  superstition  will  to  the 
world’s  end  remain  irreconcilable  and  internecine 
foes. 

Conceive  the  feelings  of  an  old  Lapland  witch, 
who  has  had  for  the  last  fifty  years  all  the  winds 
in  a seal-skin  bag,  and  has  been  selling  fair  breezes 
to  northern  skippers  at  so  much  a puff,  asserting 
her  powers  so  often,  poor  old  soul,  that  she  has 
got  to  half-believe  them  herself  — conceive,  I say, 
her  feelings  at  seeing  her  customers  watch  the 
admiralty  storm-signals,  and  con  the  weather  reports 
in  the  Times.  Conceive  the  feelings  of  Sir  Samuel 
Baker’s  African  friend,  Katchiba,  the  rain-making 
chief,  who  possessed  a whole  houseful  of  thunder 
and  lightning  — though  he  did  not,  he  confessed, 
keep  it  in  a bottle  as  they  do  in  England  — if  Sir 
Samuel  had  had  the  means,  and  the  will  of  giving 
to  Katchiba’s  negroes  a course  of  lectures  on 
electricity,  with  appropriate  experiments,  and  a 
real  bottle  full  of  real  lightning  among  the  fore- 


most. 


288 


LIVING  TRUTHS . 


CCXL. 

Science,  as  yet,  has  withstood  both  terrors  and 
blandishments.  In  old  times,  she  endured  being 
imprisoned  and  slain.  She  came  to  life  again. 
Perhaps  it  was  the  will  of  Him  in  whom  all  things 
live,  that  she  should  live.  Perhaps  it  was  his  spirit 
which  gave  her  life. 

She  can  endure,  too,  being  starved.  Her  vota- 
ries have  not  as  yet  cared  much  for  purple  and 

fine  linen,  and  sumptuous  fare.  There  are  a very 
few  among  them,  who,  joining  brilliant  talents  to 
solid  learning,  have  risen  to  deserved  popularity,  to 
titles,  and  to  wealth.  But  even  their  labors,  it 
seems  to  me,  are  never  rewarded  in  any  proportion 
to  the  time  and  the  intellect  spent  on  them,  nor  to 
the  benefits  which  they  bring  to  mankind ; while 
the  great  majority,  unpaid  and  unknown,  toil  on, 

and  have  to  find  in  science  her  own  reward.  Bet- 
ter, perhaps,  that  it  should  be  so.  Better  for 

science  that  she  should  be  free,  in  holy  poverty  to 
go  where  she  will  and  say  what  she  knows,  than 

that  she  should  be  hired  out  at  so  much  a year  to 
say  things  pleasing  to  the  many,  and  to  those  who 
guide  the  many.  And  so,  I verily  believe,  the 

majority  of  scientific  men  think.  There  are  those 
among  them  who  have  obeyed  very  faithfully  St. 
Paul’s  precept,  “ No  man  that  warreth  entangleth 


SCIENCE. 


289 


himself  with  the  affairs  of  this  life.”  For  they  have 
discovered  that  they  are  engaged  in  a war  — a veri- 
table war  — against  the  rulers  of  darkness,  against 
ignorance  and  its  twin  children  fear  and  cruelty. 
Of  that  war  they  see  neither  the  end  nor  even  the 
plan.  But  they  are  ready  to  go  on ; ready,  with 
Socrates,  “ To  follow  reason  whithersoever  it 
leads ; ” and  content,  meanwhile,  like  good  soldiers 
in  a campaign,  if  they  can  keep  tolerably  in  line, 
and  use  their  weapons,  and  see  a few  yards  ahead 
of  them  through  the  smoke  and  the  woods.  They 
will  come  out  somewhere  at  last ; they  know  not 
where  nor  when : but  they  will  come  out  at  last 
into  the  daylight  and  the  open  field ; and  be  told 
then  — perhaps  to  their  own  astonishment  — as  many 
a gallant  soldier  has  been  told,  that  by  simply 
walking  straight  on  and  doing  the  duty  which  lay 
nearest  them,  they  have  helped  to  win  a great 
battle,  and  slay  great  giants,  earning  the  thanks  of 
their  country  and  of  mankind. 

CCXLI. 

Science  is,  I verily  believe,  like  virtue,  its  own 
exceeding  reward.  I can  conceive  few  human  states 
more  enviable  than  that  of  the  man  to  whom 
panting  in  the  foul  laboratory,  or  watching  for 
his  life  under  tropic  forest,  Isis  shall  for  a moment 


290 


LIVING  TRUTHS . 


lift  her  sacred  veil,  and  show  him,  once  and  for- 
ever, the  thing  he  dreamed  not  of;  some  law,  or 
even  mere  hint  of  a law,  explaining  one  fact ; but 
explaining  with  it  a thousand  more,  connecting  them 
all  with  each  other,  and  with  the  mighty  whole,  till 
order  and  meaning  shoots  through  some  old  chaos 
of  scattered  observations. 

Is  not  that  a joy,  a prize,  which  wealth  cannot 
give,  nor  poverty  take  away.  What  it  may  lead  to, 
he  knows  not.  Of  what  use  it  may  become,  he 
knows  not.  But  this  he  knows,  that  somewhere  it 
must  lead;  of  some  use  it  will  be.  For  it  is  a 
truth;  and  having  found  a truth,  he  has  exercised 
one  more  of  the  ghosts  which  haunt  humanity. 
He  has  left  one  object  less  for  man  to  fear;  one 
object  more  for  man  to  use.  Yes,  the  scientific  man 
may  have  this  comfort,  that  whatever  he  has  done, 
he  has  done  good  ; . that  he  is  following  a mistress 
who  has  never  yet  conferred  aught  but  benefits  on 
the  human  race. 


INDEX, 


Art  . 

Beauty 
Belief 
Bible,  The 
Civilization 
Courage  . 
Death 
Discipline 
Duty 

Education 
Example  . 
Faith 

Greatness,  True 
God  the  Father 
God  the  Son  . 
God  the  Spirit  . 
God  in  Nature . 
Goodness . 
Happiness 
Health  . 
Hope 

Human  Nature 
Immortality 
Knowledge 
Life  . 


. xxx -XXXI 
. CLXI - CLXVI 
CCXVII  - CCXXIII 
CVIII-CIX 
. CLXIX  - CLXX 
CXCI-CXCV 
LXXXII  - LXXXIX 
. XXXV  — XLVII 
. XXI -XXIX 

. CL  - CLX 
CLXVII  — CLXVI1I 
CXXIV-  CXXXI 
. LXVII  - LXC1V 
. XCII-XCVIII 

. XCIX-CII 

. CIII-CVII 

LXXV  — LXXVIII 
. XVIII -XX 

XVI -XVI I 
CCXXIV  - CCXXXIV 
. . CXXXI  I 

. CXII-CXX 

XC-XCI 
CLXXI  — CLXXIII 
. CLXXIX  — CXC 


292 


Index . 


Love . . lv  - lxii 


Poetry 

Prayer  . • • . • 

Pride 

Progress  ..... 

Providence  .... 

Rich  and  Poor 

. . . . CLXI  — CLXII 

Science 

Self-deception .... 

Selfishness  • • • • 

Self-sacrifice  .... 

. • . CLXXIV  — CLXXV1II 

Sin 

Sorrow  . • • . • 

Success  . . • • • 

Time 

Woman  . • • . • 

Worship . . - • . 

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A/vU 


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